Deal with the Devil
by roxystyle011
Summary: Rachel doesn't understand what it is that Santana has that makes all the boys go crazy. When Santana denies her a simple kiss, Rachel enlists the help of Quinn to make her jealous. Faberry.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi friends! This was something random that I've been wanting to write and the promo from last week actually kind of helped me do that. I guess it's kind of like an alternate way of how last nights episode could have played out, as well as next weeks**. **Also, Holidaze is coming soon. I'm going to try and post it tonight.**

**Part 1/2**

* * *

Rachel didn't understand how everything got so out of control. It was a simple and well thought out plan. No one was supposed to get hurt.

She didn't even know where to place the blame. It surely wasn't _her_ fault, was it? No, it was a ridiculous notion that she refused to entertain. It was nobody's fault. Well, _maybe_ it was her fault for making a deal with the Devil herself.

She also didn't know where to even begin as she sat down at her white painted desk with the intentions of debriefing and dissecting the game plan to see where it all went wrong.

In the words of Mr. Schuester…

_From the top. _

* * *

Rachel was absolutely furious with the situation regarding her (ex) boyfriend's antics with a certain cheerleader. And not the one that everyone would guess.

Santana.

She was pure evil; Rachel was sure of it as she sat in the far corner of the choir room, silently fuming to herself. It didn't even matter if she and Finn were on hiatus at the time of said affair, it still happened and it still hurt like hell. And finding out nearly 6 months later? Unbelievable.

Rachel watched as Puckerman practically ate out of the palm of her hand while Lauren Zizes was glaring at the two of them. The girl couldn't even help herself around people that were taken! Rachel's eyes narrowed into slits as she watched Sam Evans walk into the choir room and take his seat dutifully next to his new girlfriend. And another thing! How could Quinn just let her _best_ friend and ex-boyfriend tongue like that in front of her?

As Rachel scanned the choir room, she found almost every single boy—and one girl—with glazed over looks in their eyes and drool in the crevices of their mouths. Disgusting. Whatever happened to being with someone for their personality and charm? Santana was the school mechanical bull, and she most certainly wasn't _that_ good looking. Okay, so she had the _hot _factor going for her but who cares? Rachel Berry was going places, and those places would bring her straight to the bank, the boys would certainly look at her differently when she had gold plated cars.

She felt pathetic, bribing people with money she didn't even have.

What was it about Santana that made everyone googly eyed? Was she a good kisser? That had to be it. But how would she know for sure?

Perhaps she could kiss her and find out if that was it.

She would simply walk up to Santana after glee practice and demand a kiss.

* * *

"Are you on crack, muppet?"

Rachel was offended that Santana even considered it a possibility that she would put such harmful toxins into her body. Sure, she was overly caffeinated occasionally but she'd never do drugs.

"Just one kiss," Rachel pleaded with the girl as she held one finger up.

"I'm not going anywhere near you, or your lips."

_Change of plans_, Rachel thought as she maneuvered herself to block Santana's exit.

"Santana, I know we've had our differences but—"

The ex-Cheerio buffed her nails on the top of her leather jacket before yawning.

"I'm bored with you."

She knocked into Rachel's shoulder as she passed by her finally.

Rachel went into panic mode, "Santana, wait!"

The girl turned around slowly, "What?"

How on earth would she convince Santana to take her seriously?

"I have feelings for you, and I'm confused."

Probably not the best route.

"Call Dr. Phil."

Rachel continued to try, "I think I love you."

"Nice try, Berry. I don't do love, find someone else to obsess over."

_Well, shoot._

* * *

Rachel had no idea what Mr. Schuester was rambling on about at glee practice the following day, she was too enthralled in listing ways she could get Santana to agree to kissing her.

Rachel's reasoning was quite simple at first, she just wanted to know what Santana had that she didn't. But after being rejected by Santana, well, it was all the brunette thought about. She had to figure out a way to make it happen.

She huffed as she began crossing out some of the options on her list.

Make a Wish Foundation.

Kidnapping.

Acquire a gun.

Serenade.

She drew a large _X_ over the list and hastily went to the next page. She stared at the lined paper and began tapping her pen against it as she scanned the choir room and found the girl in question. How could she woo Santana Lopez? Rachel watched as she stuck her tongue down Sam's throat, and she watched as she pulled away to make sure Brittany was watching.

Rachel perked up. Perhaps she'd been going about it the wrong way. With renewed determination she scribbled down one question that needed to be answered.

_What does Santana Lopez want?_

Rachel eyed the girl the rest of the practice and jotted a few notes down along the way. By the time Mr. Schuester dismissed them, Rachel's smile was wide and evil. She'd found Santana's weakness.

She wanted what other people had.

It was so simple. She wanted Brittany because Artie had her, she wanted Puck because he was smitten with Zizes, and she wanted Sam because Quinn was dating him.

As she watched her fellow glee members walk out of the choir room, she watched one especially.

Quinn.

She was the key to successfully completing this well thought-out plan.

* * *

Most people have a bad day and are able to shake it off by the following morning. Not Quinn. Her bad days just continued to get worse, and it was to the point where she didn't even want to go to sleep at night because she dreaded what awaited her the next day. First, she'd made the mistake of kissing Finn after the championship game. Then, she'd made the mistake of letting it happen again…and again. The mono debacle should have been lesson enough but she continued to allow herself to be desperate enough to have an affair with Finn. She lost her boyfriend because of it and was subjected to the torture of watching her second in command all over the boy who promised the world to her. She was a moron. How could she have given up that security and stability for a stupid kiss?

When she opened her locker at the start of 4th period and a small yellow note fell out, she was a little scared of what the content of the note was. It could have been anything. She wasn't the head cheerleader anymore and people didn't owe her any type of respect. She sighed and bent down to retrieve the note, it wasn't as if her day could get any worse. She'd neglected to study for her Physics test and completely forgot about her presentation in English.

She recognized the handwriting immediately.

_Meet me in the auditorium during lunch. – R_

It wasn't the first time she'd gotten the exact same note, so she could probably guess as to what the secret meeting was regarding. Finn. Just like it had been the last time. Only, when Quinn had agreed to help Rachel find out the boy's true feelings at the beginning of the year, she had merely been a third-party to the situation. She was kind of in the middle of it now.

The bell rang signaling that she was late for her History class and she growled to herself as she shoved the note in her purse.

Quinn tried not to think about what it was that Rachel wanted from her this time. Probably another secret mission that involved Quinn putting herself out there for embarrassment. She really didn't know why she agreed to Rachel's schemes. No, really, she tried to come up with reasons not to but she always lost the battle.

She had nothing better to do during lunch except watch Santana sit on top of Sam from across the table so maybe spending the period in the auditorium with Rachel wouldn't be that bad.

* * *

"I'm glad you got my note," Rachel beamed from across the piano.

Quinn approached it slowly, "What do you need this time?"

Rachel's jaw fell open, "Quinn, I'm offended by your accusation."

Quinn rolled her eyes, "Well the only time I get Rachel Berry's personalized notes are when you need something from me, so what is it?"

Rachel thought about arguing but it almost seemed as if Quinn was mad at the fact that she _only_ got notes when Rachel needed something of her and not that she got a note at all.

"Fine, I do need your assistance with something."

Quinn let the small smile tug at her lips at being right about her intentions, she wasn't going to lie but it felt good to be needed for something again.

"I need your help in making Santana jealous."

The blonde studied the girl for a few seconds, "Why would you want to do that?"

Rachel didn't hesitate to respond with what she'd practiced in her bathroom mirror the night before, "Because I love her and I want to be with her."

Quinn picked up her bag from the piano, "If you're going to lie to me… I'm done."

Rachel reached out to her before the blonde fully turned away, "Okay wait, I'm sorry I lied but I really need to make Santana jealous…actually, I need _you_ to make Santana jealous."

The truth seemed to have a nice affect on Quinn because she was already dropping her purse back on top of the piano.

"Why do you need me to make her jealous?"

"Because Santana seems to want what she can't have."

The blonde shook her head slowly, "I'm not following."

Rachel closed her eyes and took a deep breath before letting it out with her words, "I need you to pretend to like me so that Santana will get insanely jealous and ultimately kiss me."

The words blended together but Quinn seemed to have understood all of them.

"You're out of your mind."

Rachel held up a hand, "Before you say no—"

"I'm saying no."

The brunette continued undeterred, "Before you say no, just think about the chain of events that will follow."

Rachel had rushed—shouted—out the last few words for fear of Quinn once again turning to leave but was quite surprised when she saw the blonde's eyebrow arch with intrigue.

"I'm listening."

The brunette took another deep breath, momentarily relieved that she still had Quinn's attention. It was like playing one of those car racing games and reaching the coveted check point on lap 2.

"She becomes engorged with passionate jealousy and pursues me because she knows that taking something else from you would be the ultimate high for her, Sam finds out and eventually dumps her, leaving you to swoop in and mend his broken heart, sealing your commitment to him, and allowing you two to live happily ever after."

Staring at that white board of possible scenarios the night before had paid off.

Quinn was still regarding the brunette curiously, not quite ready to give in, "What do you get out of this?"

"A kiss from Santana, of course!"

"That doesn't seem that great, you just want her to kiss you?"

The fact that Quinn wasn't even bothered by the idea of the brunette kissing a girl was a step in the right direction for them.

"Well, after her rejection of me the other day, it's bothering me that she'll hook up with anything that speaks but won't glance my way. If anything, I'd just like to find out why she's so desirable."

_Or why Finn _desired_ her, maybe get a few pointers on what to do_, she added as an afterthought.

"You've already gone to her with this?"

The brunette nodded adamantly, "Always go right to the source, Quinn."

Quinn still didn't understand exactly how she fit into the entire thing.

"So you want us to fake date?"

_Not even a trace of disgust_, Rachel noted, _progress._

"No, it won't have to go that far."

The blonde shook her head, "I'm not following again."

"Santana would find it too obvious if we were to all of a sudden start holding hands in the hallway or serenading each other in glee. I propose a not-so-secretive friendship."

Rachel beamed at the idea.

It still didn't make sense to Quinn.

"What would we have to do?"

"Just make it _appear_ that we're hiding something," the brunette started, "Time it _just_ right so that Santana sees us glancing at each other in the cafeteria, walk into the choir room at the same time, talk to each other before school starts," Rachel glanced at Quinn to see if she was following, "Naturally, when you deny that we're friends, she'll get suspicious and assume that we're hiding something."

"So you want to fake a secret relationship and then deny it?"

"Precisely, if we deny it, she'll have no choice but to be convinced something is going on."

The plan was brilliant.

"I don't know if she'll fall for it."

"Think about it, Quinn. How does Santana's mind work? If we walked into the choir room hand in hand and made a huge scene, she'd know it was all just a ploy. Especially after I just recently told her I had feelings for her."

"Wait, you told her that you had feelings for her?"

"Regardless," Rachel shook her head to get back on track, "Do you understand what I'm getting at?"

The blonde nodded slowly, "So we stage a few subtle encounters, deny when she asks, and you think that is going to make her want you?"

Rachel nodded with a triumphant smile, "More or less."

"This is never going to work," Quinn stated and watched as the brunette's smile drooped, "and I'm not quite sure why you want this to happen so bad."

"Because, she ruined my relationship with Finn!"

Rachel knew that she would have never been able to get away with an outburst like that if Quinn was still in her Cheerio uniform and she let out a calming breath to steady her nerves before she pissed the blonde off.

"Why do you want him so bad? He treats you like crap."

"I'm not giving up on me and Finn, okay? It's not over between us," Rachel shook out of her vulnerability, "Besides, why are you even questioning it? I'm handing you revenge on a silver platter. This is your chance to make her pay for breaking you and Sam up."

Quinn studied the brunette for a few seconds, "I want more."

The predatory look in her hazel eyes made Rachel a little nervous, "M-More?"

"I want to make her suffer. She gave me mono! She's gotten away with far too much, she's going to pay."

Rachel flinched as the blonde's fist came down on top of the piano but she was smiling in no time. She succeeded in getting the only person above Santana on the food chain to be on her side.

"I knew you'd come to see it my way, Quinn. We make a fantastic team, don't you think? What with your ruthless demeanor and my determination to succeed, we'll have her by the end of the week."

"We're going to make her fall in love with you."

"Pardon?"

Quinn was nodding manically with a glazed over look in her eye, "She's going to fall for you and we're going to crush her."

"That's a little too _John Tucker Must Die_ for me."

"If you want my help, we do it my way."

Rachel thought about her options as she stood at the metaphoric crossroads. If she was smart, she would have declined Quinn's proposal and they both would have carried on with their lives as if the conversation never happened. But she wasn't as smart as she thought she was.

"Deal, we'll fine tune the details at a later time," Rachel held her hand across the piano to seal their arrangement.

Quinn shook her hand and a slow smile spread across her face.

Revenge was going to be so sweet.

* * *

Quinn and Rachel saw immediate results as they sat down at their respective lunch room tables.

"Where have you been?"

Quinn pretended not to hear her as she sat down and began pouring dressing on her salad. The two girls had spent five minutes going over some of the basic points to remember when engaging in conversation with Santana. It was a test run and they'd use whatever intel they gathered later on at Rachel's when they'd start perfecting their plan.

"Hello?" Santana flicked the plastic salad bowl, "Did you hear me?"

Quinn looked up with her best flustered expression and appeared distracted, "Sorry, what?"

"Where have you been?"

"Oh, um," Quinn left it open ended for a while as she let her eyes gaze over the right shoulder of Santana, "Nowhere."

The reaction she got was almost text book and Quinn had to remind herself to stay in character. Santana's eyebrow rose and her arms were crossed as she surveyed her friend.

"Nowhere?"

Quinn kept her eyes on Rachel as Santana began to list the reasons on why that was an unacceptable answer. Finally Santana caught on that her friend wasn't even paying attention and turned around to figure out what had Quinn so distracted. She was met with the eyes of Rachel.

Quinn knew Santana was about to say something derogatory about the brunette so before she could, she brought her eyes back to the girl and pretended like she wasn't just caught doing something against the rules. Santana dropped it and it was exactly what she'd wanted.

The seed had been planted.

She just needed Rachel to fertilize it.

* * *

The doorbell of the Berry house chimed twice before Rachel was able to make it down the stairs to greet her guest. Her fathers still weren't home from work, she presumed, and that was the only reason why Quinn had to ring the bell two times.

The last—and first—time that Quinn had been to Rachel's was the night of her party. Quinn hadn't gotten the chance to explore the rest of the house so she took her time as she walked up the staircase to the second floor.

"So," Rachel started, "How did everything go today?"

Quinn nodded before taking a seat at the edge of Rachel's bed, "Good I think, she hasn't voiced her concern but she thinks something is up with me."

"Wonderful. It will only be a matter of time before she confronts me."

Rachel pulled out a manila folder from one of her desk drawers and tossed it onto the bed for Quinn to read through.

"Thorough much?"

"It helps to be prepared."

Quinn's eyes scanned over a few of the notes that Rachel had made about Santana's behavior before moving on to the pages of possible ways to make her jealous. Quinn mentally stored a few of them before continuing onto the projected outcomes of their plan.

"I must say that I'm a little weary about the entirety of the plan, how on earth is she going to fall in love with me?"

Quinn looked up from the folder, "Love is impossible for Santana, but I think we can make her want you enough so that she'll lose her common sense and look like a fool along the way."

Rachel still wasn't sure but she had the strangest sensation to trust Quinn, "You know her better than I do."

The blonde smiled, "She won't know what hit her."

"Do you think I could be that desirable for her? I mean, she won't even throw away her pride for Brittany."

"Don't worry about that, she's attracted to girls too. If I instigate her enough and you refuse her advances a few times, she'll want you."

"I think we should make a timeline of when to implement certain stages of our plan. And maybe practice some improv exercises so that we are comfortable enough to feed off one another when thrown in situations."

"Whatever you say."

* * *

After a day of Rachel studying Santana's habits during school, they came up with a rough schedule of where she tended to be at certain times. That was the only way they could have gotten the timing perfect during the class break between 6th and 7th period. The amount of thought that went into their seemingly innocent conversation was actually more than they would have liked to admit. After plenty of bickering the night before over some Chinese takeout, they decided that Rachel would be the one to be at Quinn's locker. They'd ensure that Santana witnessed the conversation and Rachel would leave a few seconds later.

That was exactly what happened.

"What were you talking to Berry about?" Santana asked as she came up to Quinn's locker.

"I wasn't talking to Berry."

"I just saw her walk away."

Quinn looked up from her books before looking down the hallway to find the girl at her own locker, "Oh that, it was nothing," She shook off.

"Nothing?"

Quinn nodded before closing her locker and turning to face her friend with a smile, "Ready to go to Physics?"

Santana nodded but it was only a matter of time before Quinn's dodging would catch up to her.

* * *

**Meet me in the girls bathroom before glee**

Rachel closed her cell phone and threw it in her locker before attending the last class of her day. She'd been keeping a journal of progress that had dates, times, and word for word transcripts about what happened with each of Quinn and Santana's encounters.

Quinn tended to text her immediately afterwards so that Rachel could keep track. She didn't want to get yelled at again for keeping the brunette out of the loop so it was better that she did it right away before she forgot the facial expressions Santana had used. Apparently they were important.

By the time the last school bell sounded, Rachel had bounced down the hallway and to the first floor girls' bathroom to see what Quinn wanted.

"So I think we should walk into the choir room together today," Quinn suggested once Rachel had arrived, "We don't have to talk or even sit near each other but walking in will speak volumes."

Rachel nodded enthusiastically, "I agree."

"K, so…ready?"

"Well, if we leave now, we might be the first ones there and while that would be just as effective, I believe Santana will be more inclined to notice if we were the last two there. Perhaps even a few minutes late."

Quinn's eyebrow raised, "Late? You're willing to arrive late?"

"Sacrifices must be made, Quinn."

The blonde nodded and leaned against one of the white sinks to get closer to the mirror so she could touch up her makeup.

"Do you miss it?"

Quinn met her eyes in the mirror, "Miss what?"

"Being at the top?"

Quinn shrugged, "It's lonely at the top."

Rachel nodded thoughtfully, "Tell me about it."

Quinn couldn't help but chuckle, "And what would you know about that, Berry?"

"My talents seem to be somewhat of a curse."

Quinn nodded understandingly, she knew that most of the other glee kids envied her voice and it in turn made them hate her, "You know, you shouldn't let people's jealousy affect you."

"I hardly let it affect me," she saw Quinn's incredulity in the mirror, "Sure, sometimes it gets to me but it just reminds me that I'm obviously on the right track."

"Still, you let Finn treat you terribly. And Puck barely had to make an effort to convince you to throw a party. Sometimes I think you lose sight of what's actually important to you."

"The pot seems to enjoy calling the kettle black."

Quinn scoffed as she applied some light blush to her cheeks, "I've always known what I wanted…I didn't make captain sophomore year by getting walked on."

Rachel leaned up against the sink and faced Quinn, "I wouldn't say I let people walk over me, I consider it a necessary sacrifice of surviving high school. Call it charity, even."

"Charity?"

"Hey, if I would have stood up to you freshman year, you probably wouldn't have been captain. I think you owe me a thank you. If anything, I was a prime example of why people should rightfully fear you."

Quinn tapped the end of her brush to her cheek before turning to face the girl, "You're really not that bad, Berry."

"I know I'm not, and I don't really care if other people realize that or not, it's their own loss."

"Somehow I don't think I should be thanking you for letting me humiliate you every day, so I'll tell you that I'm sorry and hope it's enough."

Rachel smiled, "It's enough, Quinn. We're really not that different. Our inability to accept defeat will be our own demise."

Quinn rolled her eyes with a scoff, "If that's my only flaw than I'll gladly take it."

"It's really not that great, I mean, look where it landed me."

Quinn wanted to question her about what she meant but they weren't at that level yet. She assumed she was referring to her inability to let Finn go and the scheme they were planning because of it.

"You let yourself dwell on things too much, whatever happened to sticking your chin up and persevering through everything?"

"I should ask you the same thing… what are you doing with Sam? We're both in on this plan for the same reasons."

"You make me think too much, Berry."

"One day you'll thank me."

"Well, when that day comes, I will," Quinn zipped up her makeup pouch and threw it into her bag, "Ready?"

Rachel nodded and allowed Quinn to head out of the bathroom first, it was a strange feeling when she noted that Quinn waited for her in the hallway so that they could walk together.

When they reached the choir room door, Quinn dropped back to let Rachel go first. At the last second, Quinn began walking again causing them both to knock into each other as they entered the room. Rachel was confused at first until she noticed the shy way Quinn ducked her head and began stuttering.

"Oh s-sorry, Rach…go ahead."

Rachel really should start giving the blonde more credit, she was crafty and one hell of an actress.

"No that's quite alright Quinn, you were here first," Rachel gestured into the room.

"No really, it's okay."

Rachel nodded slowly as she saw the flash in Quinn's eyes that let her know that she actually wanted the brunette to walk into the room first. Quinn was just causing a scene so she could get the payoff.

Rachel tucked some hair behind her ear before smiling, "Thank you, Quinn."

The brunette was too busy walking to her seat to see Quinn's far away gaze trained on her back.

"Quinn?" Mr. Schuester's voice broke through the silence, "Would you like to take your seat?"

Rachel looked up as she smoothed down her skirt to see Quinn still standing in the doorway lost in her own thoughts, the brunette hid her smile as she scanned the rest of the room and noted that just about everyone was staring at Quinn with a confused expression.

The blonde cleared her throat and shook her head as she made her way to her seat.

The brunette couldn't believe how simple it had all been and how quickly they got results. Santana couldn't even wait three seconds before leaning down from her spot on the third riser and whispering something into Quinn's ear, Rachel watched with amusement out of the corner of her eye as Quinn turned around and practically growled back at her.

Rachel really needed to start giving Quinn more credit.

She knew exactly what she was doing.

* * *

**Meet me at my locker today**

Quinn didn't bother responding, she'd see Rachel in about 3 minutes. It was a Friday which meant they needed to do a little bit more scheming in order to make Santana believe they were hiding something. Their plan was going over well. Santana could barely contain herself and to her credit, she picked up on just about everything. Granted, they were playing it up for her, but Santana was taking the bait like a champ. Quinn had always been about the teasing and not about the pleasing so she'd mastered the shy glances, intense gazes, and hesitant eye flutters at a young age. She was a pro and it would only take a few more longing stares in Rachel's direction before Santana would crack and demand to know everything.

Quinn smiled to herself as she skipped by her locker and went directly to Rachel's.

As if Rachel could sense her, the girl closed her locker and leaned against it with a soft smile.

Quinn's eyes scanned her face before she also leaned her shoulder against the locker, "What?"

Pretending to be interested in Berry was actually kind of easy.

"She's on her way," Rachel said lowly before throwing her head back and laughing.

Quinn rolled her eyes but thought it was kind of funny that Rachel was able to snap into a role in a split second.

"We'll see how the day goes but I think that during lunch we should text each other," Quinn whispered.

Rachel sighed through her laugh as she was coming down and nodded her head with a wide grin, "Good idea."

"Should I stay here until she gets to us or walk away?" Quinn asked.

Rachel kept her eyes directly on Quinn as she continued to smile softly.

"She's glaring at us as she's talking to Sam, why don't we leave together?"

Quinn nodded before pushing herself off the locker and walking in the opposite direction of where Santana was silently fuming.

* * *

**She's one vibration away from cracking, so send me one and wait two minutes before sending another one**

Quinn set her phone down on the cafeteria table and went back to picking some of the Ham out of her Cobb Salad. Lunch normally sucked because Sam and Santana sat at her table but since being behind this grand scheme with Rachel, it was starting to look up. At least she wasn't utterly miserable anymore.

She knew Santana was going to lose it soon but Quinn had been doing a wonderful job of ignoring the conversation going on around her. Her phone would vibrate softly on the table and she'd smile at the contents, even if it was a simple, _check in_.

"So what do you say, Q?"

Quinn looked up from her salad and momentarily faltered, she really _hadn't_ been listening to a word they were saying. And furthermore, she didn't even realize that Sam had left the table altogether.

"Sure."

"So we'll go around 7?"

The vibration on the table startled the both of them but Quinn didn't make a move to reach for her phone.

"Sorry what?" she finally asked.

"'Stix at seven, are you even listening to me?"

Quinn bit her lip and looked up, "Sorry."

Santana huffed, "Brittany wants to go on a double date with us and I don't feel like dealing with it."

Quinn wanted to slap her for thinking it was appropriate to ask her to be the fifth wheel on a double date when she was _dating_ her ex-boyfriend, "So why do you need me?"

Santana shrugged, "I don't."

"Thanks but I'm busy."

Even if she wasn't busy, she was pretty sure that Rachel wouldn't mind keeping her company if she needed it.

Santana looked momentarily offended and Quinn didn't miss how her eyes glanced to the blonde's cell phone, "Busy doing what?"

Quinn managed to hide her smirk; it was too easy, "None of your business."

This made Santana sit up a little straighter, "You're really starting to piss me off."

"_I'm _starting to piss _you_ off?"

"Yeah, you're like sneaking around, no me gusta."

Quinn scoffed, "I am not! What are you even talking about?"

"You and Berry are like secret friends or something, and don't even deny it."

The blonde shook her head, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I saw you all doughy eyed for her this morning."

"You're out of your mind."

The phone vibrated on the table once again and Quinn lunged for it before Santana could reach across the table and snag it. Quinn was going to simply look at the text and put it in her bag because she knew Santana was seconds away from going bizerk and demanding to know what was going on. It was still too early for her to know everything.

Except, Rachel's text actually made Quinn laugh.

**Gold star to Little lamb, come in Little lamb**

"Who the hell are you texting?"

She glanced over to Rachel and saw her with a foolish grin on her face and shook her laughter away. She was supposed to be coy about this pretend Rachel relationship, she wasn't actually supposed to make the blonde laugh.

"Kurt."

"Liar," Santana stated before turning around and catching Rachel's eyes, the blonde winced as she turned back around to face her, "You're texting Berry, aren't you?"

"Get over yourself," Quinn snapped and stabbed a fork into her salad.

* * *

Rachel had been playing a few keys on the piano and scribbled down what was working and crossed out what wasn't. She had so much inspiration as of late and almost didn't have enough time to pour out all her ideas for the original song she'd been working on. They were going to take Regionals this year and her song would let them.

It was her free period and it was also the last period of the day for her. Instead of skipping out like the rest of the general population of McKinley that had the same study hall, she opted to work on perfecting her talents. Things like _that_ were going to land her at Julliard.

Her spine tensed as an eerie feeling washed over her, she wasn't in the room alone. Normally she welcomed lurkers, it gave her a chance to perform for an audience. She sometimes got the feeling that someone was watching her as she sang in the auditorium from time to time but this was a different feeling all together. She felt claustrophobic and trapped.

"Don't stop playing," Santana spoke softly from the door, "I like hearing you sing."

She was like a slithering snake.

Rachel discreetly grabbed her cell phone and typed a few words before placing it on the piano bench next to her. She turned to face Santana finally.

"Santana, what are you doing here?"

She shrugged and pushed off the door, "I know you have free this period so I thought I'd see what you were up to."

Rachel closed her eyes and reminded herself to breathe, Santana was just trying to get under her skin. Quinn had warned her about this, they were expecting this by the end of the day. Quinn and Santana had a heated argument during lunch and Quinn pulled her aside between classes to let her know she should be on high alert. Rachel slipped into her role of the hesitant and scared school girl to make Santana feel powerful, Santana had to believe she still had the upper hand. It wasn't really hard to slip into that role, Rachel was already petrified.

"W-why?"

Santana sauntered over to the piano and ran a single finger across the top.

"I've been thinking about what you said the other day, you know, about having feelings for me?"

Rachel swallowed through her dry throat, "And?"

"And I'm been giving it some serious thought."

"I'm afraid that your rejection has made me see clearly, it was a momentary lapse of judgment."

Santana chuckled to herself as she continued to run her finger over the piano, "Oh c'mon, we both know that's not true."

"I have my eye on someone else," Rachel replied hesitantly, she wasn't sure what kind of effect it would have on the girl.

"You know that hasn't stopped me before."

Rachel felt out of control of the situation and she hated feeling like that, especially in the company of Santana Lopez.

"You look nervous, do I make you nervous?"

Rachel nodded her head up and down but refused to take her eyes off the girl, not trusting her at all.

"Don't worry Berry, I'm not going to do anything to you…yet."

"Yet?"

She smiled softly and shook her head before crossing her arms, "Nah, this was just a test."

"A test?"

* * *

Quinn felt the vibration in her skirt pocket as her Math teacher went on about limits. There was only ten minutes left until the end of the day but it was taking an eternity to arrive. She waited until her teacher turned her back to the class before she glanced down at the new text message from Rachel.

**911 choir S**

Quinn leapt up from her desk and practically the entire class stared at her as she made her way up the aisle and to the door. Her teacher hadn't noticed but they didn't need permission to leave the classroom any way. She was on the third floor and the choir room was on the first. She rolled her eyes as she took off towards the stairwell and nearly slipped as she reached the bottom. She knocked a freshman over as she pulled open the door but was in too much of a frantic hurry to reprimand their lack of attention.

She'd warned Berry to keep hidden at least until they could figure out a game plan regarding Santana's advances. It went without saying that Quinn's refusal to admit she was talking to Rachel had struck a nerve with Santana. She was ruthless and of course she was anticipating Santana to corner the petite brunette before the end of the day, she was expecting it to be after school though, not during school.

Quinn pushed the choir room door open and took a second to catch her breath before finding Rachel on the piano bench and Santana leaning over her with a smirk.

"Right on time," she whispered before turning to Quinn, "I didn't know you had a free period right now…what are you doing here?"

Quinn glanced to Rachel's wide eyes and realized that Santana had done this purposely to trick them. The blonde truthfully hadn't been thinking when she left her math class to tend to Rachel's SOS call, she just reacted. In hindsight, she probably should have taken a second to consider Santana's motive in all of this. She wanted to know if Quinn and Rachel were talking to each other, clearly the blonde stepped right into the trap and answered her question.

Santana clicked her tongue against her teeth a few times while shaking her head, "Shame on you, Q. You know I'm always three steps ahead."

The blonde stood still in the doorway, trying to remember how she'd gotten to the choir room so fast in the first place. When she read Rachel's text she had been _scared_. Santana could be a loose cannon and Quinn's played witness to that more than once, Rachel was too fragile.

"I'll see you later, Berry," Santana whispered with a smirk before walking back out of the choir room, making sure to bump Quinn in the shoulder on her way.

"Quinn, I had no idea," Rachel spoke still wide eyed, afraid the blonde was going to yell at her for being so trigger happy with her cell phone.

Quinn glanced down the hallway to see Santana walking away with a swing of her hips before she closed the choir room door and entered.

"It's okay," she ran a hand through her hair, "Are you okay?"

Rachel nodded, thankful that she was actually okay. There were a few seconds there that she saw her life flash before her eyes.

"What's going to happen now?"

"This might be a good thing, I mean, she knows now that we've been hiding something."

"She just doesn't know what yet," the brunette finished for her.

"Exactly."

Rachel shivered, "She's terrifying."

"I know, are you sure you still want to do this? I mean, we could stop."

Rachel opened her mouth and closed it a few times before shaking her head, "No, I don't want to stop."

Quinn released a breath, not realizing that she was actually dreading Rachel wanting to back out, "Okay, we'll talk about this later."

"Later?"

"Do you have anything better to do tonight?"

It was a Friday and there was a point in time when she was dating Finn that she had a jam-packed weekend but she had nothing on her plate unfortunately.

"No, I suppose not. I was just going to work on one of the songs for Regionals."

"Okay, well my mom's away this weekend so why don't you come over and we can figure everything out."

Maybe it wasn't unfortunate after all.

* * *

Rachel's weekend had been relatively uneventful unless you counted the colossal strides she made with Quinn while they went over a new game plan. The blonde had even complimented her…ten times.

She counted.

Their Monday—as they planned—wasn't anything special either. They didn't look at each other, text, or hold secretive conversations. They knew Santana was watching them like hawks so they kept their distance to make it more believable.

Wednesday, however, things started heating up.

"Mr. Schuester, I think we should hold a re-vote regarding the topic of writing our own music for Regionals."

Rachel had already started the writing process but it would help if she had the support of her teammates.

"I'm sorry Rachel but the group has decided."

_He doesn't look very sorry_, Rachel thought as she crossed her arms and threw herself back in her chair.

"Aw, maybe if you follow the yellow brick road, the magical wizard will listen to you."

Rachel ignored Santana's comment and pulled out her trusty notebook and began scribbling down some words that rhymed with _bitch_, but ended up just writing _bitch_ a bunch of times. She kept her mouth shut for the remainder of the rehearsal, even when Santana would make a snide jab at her for no reason. She made a grand total of six. Somewhat of a new record.

Once the club was dismissed, Rachel stood up and began making her way down the risers so that she could talk to Mr. Schuester in private about her ideas in order to hopefully change his mind. Santana had other plans.

"Watch it, Munchkin," she snarled after purposely knocking into her.

Instead of retorting and furthering their interaction, she shook her head and continued towards Mr. Schuester.

The notebook hit the floor before she could even register that Santana had slapped it out of her hands. Rachel let her eyes meet Santana's before she began to bend down to pick it up. The notebook was sliding across the dirty floor before Rachel could even fully bend her leg and the brunette winced as she thought about how disgusting the page was bound to be. She stood up but Santana wasn't in front of her.

"What the hell is your problem?" Quinn seethed as she pushed up against the girl.

Santana laughed and tapped her finger to Quinn's nose, "So predictable."

"Leave her alone or—"

"Or else what? You have no pull at this school anymore, or have you forgotten that fact?"

Quinn pushed further and silently dared the Latina to keep talking, she was praying to have a reason to deck her in the face.

Santana leaned closer, "Don't you just love the face Sam makes when you…oh, that's right…you wouldn't know."

Rachel reached out and grasped Quinn's wrist before she could do anything stupid. Practically the entire glee club was still watching them and Rachel had no idea why Mr. Schuester hadn't stepped in already.

"Quinn, it's fine," Rachel said softly.

Quinn was sticking up for Rachel but she didn't want her doing that at the cost of her pride. Santana had the ability to humiliate the blonde. Hazel eyes turned hesitantly to meet her before she nodded to herself and backed up a bit.

Santana chuckled, "Listen to your lapdog."

Rachel watched as Quinn lunged towards a smirking Santana before she threw her arms around her waist to pull the seething blonde back. Quinn continued to struggle against the brunette in order to reach Santana who was still looking smug.

"Enough!" Mr. Schuester's voice finally boomed across the small choir room, "Rachel, get her out of here," he demanded before turning to Santana to hopefully reprimand her.

Quinn put up less of a fight as Rachel practically dragged her out of the choir room and into the hallway. The blonde began walking and it wasn't long before they both found themselves in front of the red four door sedan.

Quinn kicked the tire, "I hate her!"

Rachel watched as Quinn practically foamed at the mouth while pacing back and forth before throwing open her car door and hopping in.

"Where are you going?" Rachel called but it was no use, the blonde was already turning the keys in the ignition.

The brunette glanced back towards the school exit where the rest of the members were surely about to come out of, over to her cute little black _Volkswagon_ and back to the raging blonde in the driver's seat. Without another thought she heaved open the passenger side door and just managed to make it safely inside before Quinn threw the car in reverse.

"Where are we going?"

Her question went unanswered as Quinn peeled out of the school parking lot and gave new meaning to _burning rubber_. Rachel gripped her seat belt as if it would make her any safer and closed her eyes while the blonde sped through the small down.

Rachel's entire body jerked forward as she felt the car come to a screeching halt. There was probably smoke under the back tires.

"Why are you in my car?"

Rachel finally opened an eye and sighed in relief when it was confirmed that they were no longer traveling at the speed of light and looked to Quinn.

"You seemed angry."

"I am angry. They can't just- she can't just- she sucks."

"I'm well aware."

Quinn turned an almost curious glare on the brunette, "Why do you let her do that stuff to you?"

"Because eventually she stops when I don't react."

"I don't know how you do it."

"Practice," Rachel merely shrugged.

"But seriously, why are you in my car?"

"Well, we're in this together," Rachel responded, she really didn't know _why_ she jumped into the car after Quinn, "And I must say, it was a nice touch sticking up for me like that. I'm sure you got her riled up back there."

Quinn blanched. Rachel believed the only reason someone would stick up for her was because they had an ulterior motive.

"Oh yeah," the blonde started, "I guess those improv rehearsals really stuck with me."

"You even had _me_ believing that you were actually upset that Santana was picking on me."

Quinn wasn't mad, she was furious.

She took a few deep breaths to steady her nerves and calm her mind, "Well now everyone suspects something is going on…"

She'd left it open ended because she hoped Rachel would know what to do next.

"We'll just continue on with our plan, Quinn."

Quinn could do that.

* * *

The blonde glared at every single person that thought about taking the 3rd seat from the left in the middle row. It was the seat directly next to hers, and it was reserved for Rachel Berry.

The brunette finally entered and found that the only seats available were next to a terrifying Lauren Zizes and an uncharacteristically smiling Quinn Fabray.

Rachel smoothed her skirt under her backside as she sat down and crossed her legs.

Mr. Schuester's lesson that day was about one hit wonders but as both girls left the choir room they couldn't for the life of them remember that detail.

* * *

She learned from a young age about how her five senses worked, that if you lost one, the other four would grow stronger. She couldn't imagine any five of hers getting stronger. Her eyesight was superb, her hearing was even better, her taste buds were oversensitive, she could feel her way between a designer dress and a rip off, and her nose could rival a bloodhound's. So when Quinn's perfume wafted towards her through the small slits of her locker door, she had been confused. They hadn't premeditated any plans to meet before school. She certainly didn't mind the nice surprise but she was still on guard. Something had to be wrong.

"Quinn!" Rachel jumped as she shut her locker, "What are you doing here?" she looked around before narrowing her eyes and leaning closer, "Is everything okay?"

The blonde rolled her eyes and leaned against one of the lockers. The night before Rachel demanded that they start coordinating their outfits. That day's theme was pink. The brunette's navy blue dress looked cute with the light pink cardigan and matching headband, her bangs swiped to the side. Quinn sported one of her light pink baby doll dresses with a light blue cardigan to match, her hair done up with a side plait braid.

And it wasn't because Rachel had mentioned that she kind of missed Quinn's old attire.

"Just thought I'd walk you to first period incase Santana popped up."

Rachel grinned before readjusting her books against her chest, "That is a wonderful idea, we can go over what to do about Kurt's birthday party this weekend."

Exactly what she was going to suggest they talk about on their walk.

More or less.

* * *

Quinn was smiling softly to herself as she recalled a funny knock-knock joke that Rachel had told her when they grabbed some coffee the day before. The brunette was actually very clever and she had a wide array of riddles as well. She was entertained for hours.

"Did you raid Berry's closet or something?"

Quinn looked up from her salad, "What?"

"Your outfit. It screams opening scene of a 70s horror movie murder."

Quinn scoffed and looked down, it wasn't _that_ bad, "Rachel and I joined the celibacy club, and Schuester asked us to perform for the glee club."

Rachel suggested that they join in order to show that they were compatible with one another. The more things they did together, the more believable they were. Quinn really didn't mind.

"You're all like wholesome and shit again?"

Quinn pushed her salad bowl away and crossed her arms on the tabletop, "Respecting your body isn't a bad thing."

"Did the bible tell you that?"

"You're a moron."

Santana shrugged as if to almost agree with her, "So what's actually going on with you and the cabbage patch doll?"

"Why do you have to do that?" the blonde asked in disgust.

"Do what?"

"Insult her."

"Why, it's not like _you_ care about her…oh wait, yes you do. Word is that the only reason you joined the virgin club again was so that you could get closer to her."

The blonde shook her head, "That's not true," she lied.

"So you wouldn't care if I indulged?"

Quinn found herself gritting her teeth at what Santana implied by _indulged_. She may have been in a fake relationship with Rachel but that didn't mean she was only fake protective over her. The blonde had a certain possessive nature about her and that extended to the brunette singer. But she still had to pretend nothing was going on between them, she wasn't actually sure what _was_ going on between them.

"Why would I care?" she challenged.

"So you're really sticking to this stupid charade? Just admit that there is something going on between you two."

"There is nothing going on between us."

Santana smiled and leaned back from the table, "I guess that's for the best…she's just using you to make me jealous, you know that right?"

Quinn felt her heart rate pick up at what Santana was saying.

"She's not using me for anything."

Santana shrugged, "Denial suits you."

"Nothing to deny," she replied before taking a sip of her water to soothe her throat.

"Just wanted to make sure before I take what's rightfully mine."

Quinn nearly snarled, "She's not yours."

"We'll see after this weekend," Santana replied, confident as ever.

"What makes you so sure that she'd even give you the time of day?"

The Latina chuckled humorlessly as she shook her head, "What's she doing with you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Imagine my surprise when Sharpay told me she liked me, and then the next day you two mysteriously start subtly hanging out? Please I'm not _that_ stupid, I know you two are up to something. I know that she's using you to make me jealous, so now I'm going to do everything in my power to teach her a lesson."

The blonde didn't like the tone that her friend was using, especially when talking about Rachel.

"Don't you dare."

"You're so obvious. Arriving together to Kurt's birthday? Not letting her out of your sight? Leaving together? It's pathetic. You're threatened by me, whether this is real or not."

Quinn dropped her voice a bit in confusion, "Whether what's real or not? I told you that nothing was going on between Rachel and I."

"Here's the thing Princess, at the beginning you did a good job of making me believe that something was going on. But I think you _actually_ like her now, so I'm going to make it as interesting as possible, you know why?"

"Why?"

Santana leaned forward and let a satisfying smirk cross her lips, "I love the look on your face when I take something that's yours."

Quinn shook the girl's words out of her head, "Rachel isn't mine."

She wasn't. They may have been pretending that they were involved but it was all a lie. And as much as she hated Santana, she was right. Rachel was still using her to make Santana jealous.

"And it's killing you."

Her walls were building up as she began to reorganize her school books on the table, "You're misinformed."

"At first, your denial was cute and too see through to believe. But now? Now you're actually getting heated, because you're _actually _denying your feelings for her. It kills you that this is all fake for her, just some scheme to make me jealous enough to want her."

She knew exactly what to say to push the blonde's buttons.

"There is no scheme!"

"Why does Berry really want to kiss me? Does her reason even make sense?"

She had been thinking it over more and more lately and it really didn't make all that much sense to her but she refused to let Santana know that.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Deep down you know that it wouldn't be hard to break her in, give me an hour with her and I'll have her on her back and fluent in Spanish within ten minutes."

The blonde cringed and shivered at the same time at both the thought and the jealousy that coursed through her. Over her dead body would she allow that to happen.

"Leave her alone, Santana. I mean it."

"Not until you admit that you actually are falling for her."

"That's never going to happen," the blonde shot back.

"Wanna know how I know it's true?" Santana laughed incredulously, "I'm giving you a way out and you won't take it."

She was. She was absolutely giving her a way out of this and the blonde was too stubborn to take it. All she had to do was let Santana kiss Rachel and they'd all get what they wanted. Why was she being so stupid about this? Why did she _want_ to keep doing this with Rachel? Why was she no longer feeling like this arrangement was fake?

"She doesn't want you, Q. She wants Finn. She's using you."

"That's not true."

God, it was so true.

"Suit yourself, but she won't stop until she gets what she wants and you know it."

Quinn zoned out and didn't reply.

Santana sighed at her silence before standing up, "See if you can try to keep her away from me after she finds out I'm willing to give her what she wants."

Over her dead body.

* * *

Quinn watched as all ten pins knocked down before Rachel spun around on her heel and curtseyed for the onlookers. It was her second strike in a row and she was proud of herself. Quinn was proud of her. Judging by her small stature you'd think she'd only be able to throw her bright pink ball into the gutter, but Rachel was kicking all their asses in bowling.

Rachel hopped back to her seat and turned to Quinn.

"Did you see that?"

Quinn smiled and nodded before taking another sip of her fountain soda.

"Watch and learn, kids," Lauren announced as she got up to chuck her ball down the aisle.

Bowling had been Finn's idea to get the team pumped for Regionals, they were also going to go over some song options. Rachel bit her tongue once again because no one wanted to hear about her idea for an original song. They'd rather do a medley of class rock music. Quinn wanted to slap them silly when one of them suggested the Star Spangled Banner for their anthem song.

Rachel turned into Quinn some more before ducking her head, the blonde leaned in to hear her.

"Has Santana said anything to you recently? She's been all too obvious in her efforts to corner me."

The blonde's neck snapped back and she glared at the back of Santana's head as she stood with Brittany in the next lane. Quinn hadn't mentioned the conversation that the two of them had at lunch over a week ago. She wasn't sure why she didn't tell Rachel immediately. It was a pretty big deal. Santana knew of their scheme.

That wasn't to say that Quinn had forgotten about the conversation, far from it. It was all she thought about, actually. She thought about it before she went to sleep, she thought about it in between classes as she was walking with Rachel, she thought about it during glee club when she could feel the brunette's presence as she sat next to her, and she even thought about it while she was in the shower. That was a serious situation.

Her body would get too hot to function and she found herself stuttering or tripping over her words. Santana didn't realize how long a fuse she lit within Quinn. She was basically a ticking time bomb, she had no idea when she'd explode.

The blonde shook her head, "Do you want to go outside and get some fresh air?"

The bowling alley had suddenly gotten too hot for her and her black cardigan, and she certainly didn't want to leave the brunette by herself with Santana.

Lies.

Rachel had ten other people to occupy her while Quinn was gone for a few minutes but she just didn't want that.

"Of course! I could use some air," Rachel nodded, pulling at the collar of her sweater, "It's quite warm all of a sudden."

Quinn stood and allowed the brunette to walk ahead of her, not bothering to throw an excuse to the inquiring minds that were watching them go. She was a tad distracted.

"So, Santana hasn't said anything?"

Quinn shook her head, "She's been cornering you?"

The blonde wasn't exactly sure how that could have been happening, they were with each other practically every chance they got. Even when they didn't need to put on the act.

"She's been- well she's…"

"Spit it out."

"Well she's been," Rachel leaned in closer as if she didn't want anyone to overhear, "_sexy _texting me."

Quinn pulled back with a distant look in her eyes, Rachel continued to speak as if she hadn't even noticed the blonde was zoned out. Quinn could barely make out the things that Rachel was telling her, most likely the details of the texts, and Quinn considered herself lucky that she couldn't hear because it would probably make her want to hurt Santana even more. Santana often made nice on her threats but she wasn't expecting it to escalate to this.

The only reason she was doing this now was because it was riling Quinn up.

The blonde should have just taken the out Santana offered her the other day. There was really no reason why they should continue the act, their cover had been blown and there was no pay-off. They couldn't get Santana to fall for Rachel if she was already willing to hook up with her.

But for the life of her, Quinn couldn't find it within herself to put an end to it. Rachel made her palms tingle, but she didn't _like_ Rachel like that, did she? Maybe she was a method actor and when she got into a role, she _got into a role_.

She looked back up and tried to focus on what the brunette was telling her, blinking her eyes a few times as if the cloudiness would go away, maybe she could catch the end of her sentence and not be completely called out for not listening. She found herself staring at her lips. Rachel's full and soft lips that couldn't have looked more inviting if they tried.

She took a step forward and then another one but Rachel didn't stop speaking. She shook her head one last time in an effort to rid her haziness, and when it didn't go away she brought her hand to rest on top of the brunette's shoulder.

"Quinn? Are you okay? What's the—"

Whether it was because she wasn't thinking clearly or because she'd been thinking about doing it for almost a week, she kissed her. She kissed the hell out of her, too. One second Quinn had her lips pressed against Rachel's, the next second her tongue was in her mouth, and the fifth second she had the brunette up against the wall outside the bowling alley.

Her eyes were closed before she'd even reached Rachel's lips so there was no way she saw the shocked brown eyes that slammed closed after hitting the wall, unable to fight the natural reaction of feeling her insides come alive. Quinn was kissing her. More importantly, Rachel didn't want her to stop.

_Holy shit_.

"Q, it's your tur- Holy shit."

Rachel's eyes flew open and something wasn't right because Quinn wasn't backing away, her mouth was still moving against the brunette's and while it wasn't exactly a bad thing, they'd just been caught making out.

The brunette quickly put her hands to Quinn's chest and pushed back with small force causing her to stumble. She realized that Santana was standing in front of the door with her arms crossed and wiped the back of her hand against her mouth.

"S-Santana, this is not what it looks like," Rachel stuttered out, automatically smoothing out her dress.

"Oh, it's exactly what it looks like," she smirked before turning to Quinn, "Well played, Fabray."

Santana threw her head back and laughed before pulling the door open and walking back inside.

Rachel waited a few beats and took the time to stare at Quinn. She was still breathing heavy but the brunette realized that she was probably doing the same. They'd been caught kissing, and sure it was all part of the plan but it was exhilarating. She's not sure if it was the kiss or getting caught, though she had a pretty good idea.

_Part of the plan_.

Her face dropped when she realized that, yeah, it was all part of their scheme. Quinn probably planned this so that Santana would see them intimately and want her even more.

She still wasn't giving Quinn enough credit. The girl was brilliant.

"Quinn, that was amazing!" Rachel beamed.

Quinn looked up and shook her head quickly before her eyes doubled in size, "Really? You were okay with that?"

Rachel was confused by the blonde's somewhat hopeful tone. Naturally Rachel was okay with it because she was an actor and actors performed on a day to day basis. She was ready for anything. Even _that_.

She also enjoyed it but that was neither here nor there.

"Yeah! I mean, for you to plan something like _that_ surely took much time and preparation. Did you see the look on her face? She was completely caught off guard by our _spontaneous_ lip lock and you even had _me_ caught off guard!"

"Right."

"Brilliant!"

"Yup."

Rachel noticed a small sliver of sadness cross her features and couldn't ignore it. She ducked her head so that she could get into Quinn's line of vision.

"That was part of the plan, wasn't it?"

Quinn's head snapped up, "Of course. Just part of our plan."

Rachel smiled with pride for her partner in crime and pushed down the feeling of _want_ that was creeping up through her body.

Quinn was in on this because she wanted Sam back, and Rachel was…

Well, Rachel had no idea why she was doing this anymore.

* * *

It was pouring. It hadn't poured in Lima for the longest time but naturally that night it had to be. Because ironic symbolism was Quinn's forte.

_When it rains, it pours, _Quinn laughed to herself humorlessly. Of course it did.

Of course her kiss with Rachel led to a million thoughts about the girl.

She let her mind stray towards Rachel for one second and the next thing she knew, she was standing knee deep in realizations.

There was no way that Santana was right, there was no way that she _actually_ liked the brunette. They were just business partners with…with undeniable chemistry. Yeah.

It didn't change the fact that Quinn was sitting outside the girl's house in her car with the windshield wipers on the highest setting. She refused to let the rain stay on the glass windshield for one second because then the rain would blend together and create a dizzy and blurry mess.

She desperately needed a windshield wiper for her mind.

Ironic symbolism.

She turned to look out the window and up at the Berry's house. It was Saturday night and the front porch lights were on, as well as the light in Rachel's room. Quinn gnawed on her lip and tried to grasp onto reality. She couldn't think straight, she couldn't even remember the drive over to Rachel's.

She. Kissed. Rachel.

She wanted to do it again.

She would do it again. But only to prove that there were no excess feelings involved. She'd do it to prove to herself that she felt nothing for the brunette. It was a lapse in judgment. It was only to taunt Santana, let her realize that it wouldn't be that easy for her to obtain Rachel Berry.

She refused to remember the part where Santana wasn't supposed to know they kissed.

She didn't know what she was waiting for, she'd been sitting outside of Berry's house for ten minutes. Deep down Quinn knew that she was scared. Her parents weren't home and Rachel wasn't expecting her, but she couldn't open her car door to save her life.

No, she could do this. She _needed_ to do this.

She hopped out of the car and didn't even bother turning it off. She'd be back within 5 minutes.

She needed to put her overworked mind to rest and prove once and for all that Rachel meant nothing to her.

She should have ran up the walk way but the rain felt kind of good against her skin. Maybe she needed it to be a wakeup call. Her hair was soaked and so where her clothes but that didn't matter. She'd be back in her car within 5 minutes and on her way back to her house to take a shower before snuggling in her bed with a clear mind. The thing about Rachel was that she demanded the stage and needed to be the center of attention, the same thing went for the Rachel inside of Quinn's mind.

She got up to the door but didn't bother to ring the doorbell, she just pushed it open slowly and stepped inside. She could hear music coming from the second floor and began her ascend up the staircase. She couldn't bother to hesitate any longer and barged into Rachel's room, startling her in the process.

From the looks of it, Rachel had been on her computer but whatever she was working on was long forgotten the second Quinn walked into the room. She turned with a jump, clearly not expecting the blonde to _actually_ show up without texting her to tell her she was going over.

"Quinn! I wasn't expecting- Oh my god! You're soaking wet!" she exclaimed as she hopped off her bed and put her laptop on her nightstand.

Quinn stood still, aware that she was dripping water onto Rachel's rug but she couldn't take her eyes off the brunette. She waited until the brunette was in her personal space before pulling on her hand and connecting their lips for the second time.

Rachel was naturally caught off guard_ again_ but this time both girl's eyes were wide open as their lips clung together. The blonde's gripped tightened around both of Rachel's arms as she desperately tried to keep her eyes open, she could do this.

_She couldn't_.

Quinn's eyes slid closed with a heavy sigh as she maneuvered her head and slid her tongue to meet Rachel's. Her small whimper matched the brunette's and eventually her grip around Rachel's forearms loosened. Rachel's free hand came up to cup the blonde's cheek as they ducked their heads and kissed some more.

It wasn't supposed to happen like that. Quinn was supposed to already have been on her way back to her car, feeling victorious after realizing that she felt nothing for Rachel.

She felt nothing and _everything_ at the same time.

Quinn pulled back slightly, hoping to maybe make it out while she still could. Her eyes met Rachel's eager brown ones before scanning the rest of her face. They lazily fell on the girl's enticing lips as she ran her tongue under the top one. Quinn felt herself internally moan.

"God damn it, Berry," Quinn growled before attaching their lips again and this time bringing her arms to pull the girl closer by the waist.

They stood in the middle of Rachel's room for a few long minutes, exploring each other's mouths and rasping out heavy breaths. Every once in a while, Quinn would find her eyes opening to make sure it was actually Rachel she was kissing. She'd maybe try to pull away or maybe come up with a reasonable explanation as to why her stomach was fluttering every time she saw Rachel's closed concentrated eyes. She kissed her harder.

The brunette's legs hit the mattress and Rachel pulled her down with her but their kiss broke along the way. Quinn set back in to kissing her until she realized her car was still running.

"My car!" she yelped as she pulled back entirely, "I left my car running, I have to turn it off."

Quinn made to turn for the door before she felt her arm being tugged, "No!" Rachel called desperately.

"I'll be right back."

The brunette shook her head, "No, you won't."

Quinn looked to the door and glanced back to a vulnerable Rachel. She shouldn't come back. She should hop in her car and drive across state lines. What if the rain was a wakeup call the second time around? What if the image of Rachel panting on top of her bed wouldn't be enough for her to find it in herself to come back to her?

She knew that it would be more than enough.

"I'll come with you," Rachel offered quickly, already jumping off the bed.

Quinn swallowed and glanced out the window as the sound of the rain pattered against the roof. It shouldn't have been as dramatic as they were making it but it needed to be. The moment called for it. The blonde nodded and held out her hand for Rachel to take. Why she offered her hand, she had no idea, but she wasn't letting it go.

The rain _was_ a wakeup call. It made her realize that the only thing she wanted to do was slam Rachel against the side of her car and kiss her until sunrise. If she wasn't so worried about Rachel getting sick from the cold, she would have done—.

Wait, she _cared_ about her now?

She. Was. Screwed.

* * *

The last thing Rachel expected on her Saturday night was for Quinn to show up. Sure, the girl had been texting her all day—more so than usual—but she never imagined the blonde would actually show up.

The bowling alley had been an interesting experience. She couldn't quite get it out of her mind. She knew it was all part of the plan but she found herself not really caring about the plan anymore.

For the first time in her life, she found herself willing to accept failure—well, in the form of forfeiting— so that she could pursue Quinn.

She wanted Quinn to kiss her like that again though, and that was the only reason she didn't call off the entire plan. She had a better chance of getting closer to Quinn if they were both working towards a common goal, and if they were at the stage of public displays of affection in their plan, she wasn't going to sit that out.

She'd contemplated for a short second that she had been dreaming when she felt Quinn pull her closer, because there was no way something could feel _that_ good in real life. She'd always wanted to be kissed in the pouring rain too. Her back was still a little sore from the force Quinn used in pushing her up against it for their heated yet very quick kiss while the rain fell on them. It was perfect.

But Rachel couldn't think like that. She couldn't be throwing around words like_ perfect_ or _meant to be_. It was too early for that and she was just going to set herself up to get hurt. But god damn, when Quinn kissed her like that, she really didn't see any problem with it.

Her back was sore, her lips were chapped, her neck was aching, and her head was still swirling when she woke up the next morning. But the sight of Quinn sleeping next to her with tousled hair and a dreamy smile on her lips made her forget all of that.

She plopped down on her fluffy pillows and stared at her ceiling. What had happened last night? The plan was so simple, they were just supposed to make it appear they were secretly seeing each other. They weren't supposed to actually _see_ each other.

Finn was still her end game, right? She'd kiss Santana and find out what it was that she possessed that made the boys go crazy. She'd then acquire said trait and seduce Finn before someone else picked him up. Quinn would get to crush Santana and get Sam back in the process so they could begin their quest for Prom King and Queen.

But Quinn _kissed_ her. Like, a lot. Rachel certainly enjoyed it and judging by Quinn's low moans, it was pretty clear the blonde enjoyed it too.

The girl in question began stirring in the bed next to Rachel.

The blonde sat up slightly and glanced at the brunette before rubbing her eyes with her free hand and mumbling an _oh no_.

She laid back down and closed her eyes.

"Quinn?"

"Hmm?"

"What was last night?"

Quinn sat back up and pulled—reluctantly?—her hand from under Rachel's t-shirt. It must have wandered in her sleep.

"Last night?" Quinn stalled.

The brunette nodded before sitting up further and resting against her headboard.

"It was," Quinn started as she began to step down from the bed, "practice."

Rachel's eyes were trained on the blonde's bare legs as she fumbled around the room to find her discarded damp jeans from the night before.

Her eyes snapped up to her face when Quinn turned back around, "Practice?" she asked with an intrigued brow.

Quinn nodded adamantly and turned to find her zip up sweatshirt, "Yup, practice for when…"

She spotted it and threw it on before zipping it up half way and pulling her hair out.

"For when?" Rachel tried to help her.

"For when Santana's around," She finished with a firm nod, "Yeah like, she already thinks we kiss, so we might have to play it up when she's near us."

Liar.

"Oh I get it, like this was just rehearsal for when we need to do the real thing like at school and stuff?"

"Yup."

Liar liar, pants on fire.

"Wonderful idea, Quinn!" Rachel beamed, "We'd like people to believe it."

As if people needed _any_ help believing it.

Quinn nodded and Rachel noticed the way her eyes fell right on the brunette's lips, she made sure to run her tongue under her upper lip just for the blonde to remember on her drive home. She happened to notice that it drove the girl crazy.

"I should go," Quinn turned towards the door, "Thanks? For practicing with me."

Rachel rolled her eyes and got out of the bed, "Quinn?"

The blonde turned back around and diverted her attention away from Rachel's lack of clothing.

"Practice kiss goodbye?"

"Oh, yeah of course," Quinn replied trying to remain calm and light as she moved closer to the brunette.

Rachel winced as the sunlight hit Quinn's neck and she saw the damage she'd done to the blonde's silky skin.

"Oh my gosh, Quinn you have a hickey!" she announced as if she wasn't aware she was the one to give it to her, "Does it hurt?" she reached to touch it and saw the blonde flinch away a bit.

"It's fine," she studied the brunette's neck, "I got you good a few times, too," she replied softly.

A few times? Her neck felt like it was black and blue.

"Practice?"

"Evidence," Quinn answered instead before leaning in and hesitantly pressing her lips to Rachel's again.

Rachel kept her eyes open long enough to see Quinn unable to meet her gaze and shut her eyes shortly after the hazel ones disappeared. Quinn pulled away too quickly, stuttering out apologies and excuses as to why she had to leave right away. Rachel hid her smirk as she watched the blonde leave before turning back to retrieve her laptop.

Quinn so had it bad for her and she was going to prove it.

She had some scheming to do.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for reading and reviewing! I apologize ahead of time if there are a lot of mistakes, I'm loopy but I wanted to get this out tonight. Forgive me. I suppose I should mention that there are spoilers for the Original Song episode. I used one of the songs Rachel sings. Hope you enjoy!  
**

**Part 2/2  
**

* * *

She really didn't know what she had been thinking when she drove to Rachel's house on Saturday night. But that was the least of her problems because that really wasn't a big deal. She could have showed up and just claimed that she was bored.

But she had to go and kiss her. She had to kiss her a lot, like to the point of where her cover could have been blown.

Good thing she fed Rachel that _practice_ line. That was quick thinking on her part, Rachel would be none the wiser.

The problem with the entire thing was that she actually _wanted_ to kiss her again, and then some more. It was all she thought about. The images of Rachel on the bed below her were etched into her mind for eternity, she saw them everywhere. When she closed her eyes, while she was sitting in church, when she was at brunch with her mother, while she was doing her homework, when she was watching _Friends_ before dinner, while she was taking a cold shower before bed, and even in her dreams she saw Rachel. She could feel the brunette's smooth skin beneath her, she could smell her citrus shampoo after the rain brought it back to life, she could feel her damp hair beneath her fingertips, she could taste the remnants of lemon tea under her lips, and if she looked in the mirror she could see the small red nail marks Rachel left on her back. Not to mention the temporary scars on her neck. She shivered each time she glanced at them in her bathroom mirror.

She was hyper aware of _everything_ Rachel. But how could she not be when everything about Rachel was enticing to her? She found the spot on her side that made her squirm in laughter, she found herself smiling with Rachel every time she'd purposely squeeze it. She didn't jump off her when she heard the front door open after her dads came home, she didn't even let up when they knocked on the bedroom door to make sure Rachel had survived a night alone. She simply traced her lips to the brunette's neck and continued her assault. Rachel didn't stop her. No, she threw her neck back to give Quinn better access.

She knew that she shouldn't have nestled her leg between Rachel's, and she most certainly shouldn't have growled that they both remove their wet clothes. But they were uncomfortable and in the way.

The serious wakeup call to the entire thing was that she was _this_ close to breaking her celibacy vow for a second time. And maybe Rachel was too.

God, she wanted to so bad.

Pardon her French, but Quinn was royally fucked.

She already had taken a cold shower that morning before school and she didn't know how much longer she could last being in public _and_ around the brunette. She had no idea what it meant but she stopped caring the second Rachel beamed at her from her locker.

"How was the rest of your weekend, Quinn?" she asked once the girl got closer.

"Good."

Torturous.

"Cute scarf, Berry."

Quinn wasn't sure how she managed to miss Santana sauntering towards them but she was momentarily blinded, she supposed.

"How was your weekend?" Santana asked innocently but her version of innocent came out as seductive.

She only walked up because she wanted to make it clear that she wasn't giving up on her efforts of obtaining Rachel. It was all a game to her, and her text message Sunday afternoon of _game on, Fabray_ pretty much solidified that.

"Why do you even care?" Quinn found herself unable to contain her anger around the girl when it came to Rachel.

"It's April and she's wearing a scarf," Santana turned her eyes to meet Rachel's before she reached out and pulled the scarf away from Rachel's neck.

The blonde winced as she caught sight of the bruising.

"Jesus Q, you throw golf balls at her neck all night?"

"Shut up."

"Berry, if I'd known you were such a freak, I'd have taken you that day in the choir room."

Rachel blushed and ducked her head in embarrassment, "Um thanks?"

Hazel eyes snapped towards Rachel's at her obvious bashfulness. The satisfied smile on Santana's lips was practically purring and she didn't like the effect it was having on the brunette. She was Quinn's. Well, technically speaking? She wasn't sure but she was still contractually obligated to be in a fake relationship with Berry.

"Rach, ready to go to class?"

Rachel bit her lip and nodded before closing her locker. She wrapped the scarf around her neck again and waited for Quinn to finish her silent staring contest with Santana.

The two girls walked away with Quinn's hand on the brunette's elbow.

"Do you not have cover up?" the blonde hissed lowly as they avoided the curious eyes of their peers in the hallway.

Rachel laughed humorlessly, "Trust me, I used cover up."

"How easily do you bruise?"

"My dad has called me Peach since I was a toddler."

Of course. She had to mark the one girl that could be bruised by the wind.

"Could have told me."

Rachel peered up at her, "Would it have stopped you?"

Was Berry _flirting_ with her?

Chills.

Quinn shook her head, "Whatever, just- just be careful around Santana. She's determined now."

"I'm a big girl, Quinn. I can take care of myself."

She pursed her lips and nodded, "Right. I'll see you at glee."

* * *

By the end of the day, everyone knew about Rachel's camouflaged looking neck and where she got it from. Quinn glared at anyone that attempted to open their mouth and Rachel was thankful. Not only did the glee club know but just about the entire school knew as well, and that changed everything.

The only part of the plan that was still in working order was the fact that Santana was pursuing her left and right. She really didn't care about Finn anymore, especially after he'd made quite the scene in glee that day.

"You guys just love to hurt me!"

"Oh shut up already, Beanstalk," Santana shot back at him, "Just 'cause you don't know how to satisfy a woman doesn't mean you need to get your panties in a twist over this. Berry likes what she likes," she threw a taunting smile and blew her a kiss from across the room.

Rachel felt Quinn shift closer from the chair next to her.

"Can we _please_ get back on track here?" the blonde pleaded with the glee instructor.

Puckerman nodded arrogantly with a smirk, "Yeah, the faster we finish this, the faster Quinn can go home and mount Berry."

Rachel scoffed as she turned around to reprimand him but found Lauren bumping his fist.

"Good one, babe."

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she turned around in her chair, utterly ticked off that they were making such a joke of it.

"Enough guys, Quinn's right. We need to gear up for Regionals, any song ideas?"

"We're doing an original song," Quinn stated and Rachel shot her a confused look.

"What are you doing?" she leaned over and whispered.

Quinn put her hand on the girl's thigh to still her, "It's our best shot at winning. Rachel's an incredible songwriter and we deserve to lose if we don't utilize her talents."

"Everyone voted and we already decided—"

"Vote again."

Rachel watched intently as Schuester let out a defeated sigh.

"All those in favor?"

The brunette watched with pride beating in sync with her heart as Quinn glared at every single one of the members until they raised their hands.

She turned back to the teacher, "There. Problem solved," she spoke too sweet to be genuine.

"Okay, I guess we're doing an original song then... Rachel?"

"I'm already on it, Mr. Schuester," she beamed before standing up and turning to the rest of her peers, "I'd like to thank all of you for having faith in me."

"Like we had a choice," Santana muttered under her breath.

* * *

Quinn was livid.

She was having serious sex dreams about Rachel Berry that kept her up half the night, _and_ she neglected to do her English essay questions which the teacher happened to choose that day to collect. Not only that but as she walked towards her locker before lunch, she saw Santana leaning against the locker that was normally reserved for Quinn's shoulder.

She had to stop getting so jealous over the littlest things when it came to Santana. It was exactly what the girl wanted from her.

Easier said than done.

She threw her books in her locker and slammed the metal door closed before walking up to the pair. She entirely ignored Santana and stepped in between them to give Rachel a lingering kiss. Catcalls be damned. She would show Santana.

Quinn kissed her until she felt the girl leave their presence and pulled back slightly before punctuating their innocent make-out with a chaste peck.

"What was that?" Rachel asked, covering her lips with her hand as she spoke to Quinn.

"Everyone already thinks something is going on, we want to make it believable right?"

Rachel nodded slowly, and Quinn hoped that the girl couldn't see right through her motives. Just like at the bowling alley, or in the middle of the rain, she just couldn't help herself.

The blonde was losing her grip on reality, and fast. She had no idea what her end game was anymore. She went from wanting Sam back, to wanting Santana to be humiliated, to wanting Santana to know she couldn't touch Rachel, to just wanting Rachel. She wasn't even sure if her actions fell within the objectives of their drawn out game plan.

She smiled as she saw Rachel finally drop her hand away from her mouth and let a smile cross her features.

"Walk me to lunch?"

Quinn nodded before shutting the brunette's locker for her.

Her momentary giddiness came to an abrupt end when she realized she had to leave Rachel's side so she could sit at her own lunch table.

Santana was smiling sweetly from across the table.

"Desperate much?"

It was safe to say that Quinn would sit with Rachel the following day.

* * *

Rachel was dizzy from the run around. She felt like she was in a heated tug-of-war match except she was the rope in the situation. Quinn was being all too obvious with her jealousy whenever Santana made an appearance.

And Santana was relentless.

And so was Quinn.

Rachel would be lying if she said that she didn't love the attention she was getting. As far as the rest of the school was concerned, they were a real couple. They acted like they were dating, they laughed with each other, held hands, and even shared the occasional kiss in the hallway between classes.

It was almost too good to be true but there was one thing Rachel noticed that the other kids would never realize. The only time Quinn would do those things was when Santana was within a 50 foot radius.

Rachel had come to terms with the fact that she was crushing on Quinn. It was impossible not to. Not only was she attractive but she was protective. And not in a Finn-possessive _cover up your body_ insecure kind of way but in a _I'd simply die if something bad happened to you_ kind of way. She started showing up randomly outside of Rachel's classrooms to walk her to her next class.

The brunette glanced down at their intertwined hands and frowned.

Two things were wrong and it took Rachel nearly 5 class periods to realize it.

They never intertwined their fingers, always cupped. It was innocent and not too intimate.

And maybe the biggest indication that Quinn was completely losing her grip on reality was that Santana hadn't even been in school that day. They were putting on a show for nothing.

"Quinn?"

"Hmm?"

"We're holding hands," Rachel pointed out unnecessary.

Quinn peered down at the brunette with a confused smile, "Yeah?"

"Santana skipped today."

The smile dropped from the blonde's face and Rachel bit her lip not to react.

The blonde cleared her throat and faced forward, "I'm sure someone will let her know."

Rachel nodded and while she wanted to push the subject, she let it drop and went back to smiling softly to herself.

* * *

_Crap_.

Quinn was being entirely too touchy with Rachel recently and most of the time her excuses didn't even make sense. It's not like Santana would ever find out that Quinn kissed Rachel on the cheek in the bathroom before glee every day, or that she went to the brunette's house the night before to help her write the original song.

More importantly, when was she going to stop using Santana as a scapegoat?

She was actually kind of thankful that Santana was non-stop pursuing the brunette because it gave her a reason to never let Rachel out of her sight. But Rachel was starting to catch on and the blonde knew it was only a matter of time before she called her out on it.

"When are we going to move onto the next stage of our plan?" Rachel asked from her spot on Quinn's bed.

_What plan?_

The blonde shook her head, "What's the next stage of our plan again?"

"When I give into Santana's seducing."

Quinn felt her mouth go dry while her heart dropped into her stomach.

"I think the longer we keep you from her, the better," it didn't even make sense anymore, "so we can crush her." the blonde added.

Rachel nodded slowly and Quinn felt guilty that the girl still didn't know Santana was more than willing to make out with her. And the figurative—sometimes literal—arm that Quinn had around Rachel's lower back was probably only increasing the want. The blonde was digging her own grave. It wouldn't be long before the plan was over and Santana would win.

Quinn tried to forget the fact that at the end of the day, Rachel was using her for something.

"It's getting harder and harder to resist her," Rachel said softly, almost shyly.

Quinn stood up from her desk chair and dragged her bare feet across the dark carpet until she was close enough to lay on the bed.

"What do you mean?"

Rachel shrugged and turned away from the blonde, "I don't know, it's Santana, she's quite persuasive when she wants to be."

"What has she been saying?" Quinn spoke slowly so her emotions wouldn't be too obvious.

"Just stuff…" she trailed off much to the blonde's dismay.

That was the one downside. Both Rachel and Santana had the same free period at the end of the day while Quinn was stuck in her math class on the third floor. There was no way to know what the two were up to or even if they were together during that time. Rachel never talked about it and it was clear that she wasn't going to delve into the details regarding her and Santana's conversations.

Quinn hated it.

"I do love the attention."

The blonde swallowed thickly and inched closer to the brunette that was sitting Indian style on the bed.

Her voice dropped, "What about the attention I give you?"

Rachel's eyes scanned the blonde's hopeful expression before settling on the girl's lips. She laughed softly to herself before glancing away.

"What about it? It's only for show."

_No, it's not_, the blonde wanted to scream but she settled for pressing her lips together to form a pout as Rachel played with her hands.

Quinn swallowed again and tried to move closer. Rachel felt her getting closer and turned to look at her.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Quinn replied through a whisper as her lips grazed Rachel's.

Her eyes slid shut as she felt Rachel respond and one of her hands went up to cup the brunette's cheek.

Except she lost her balance and knocked into the brunette, causing her to fall backwards. Rachel threw her arms around the blonde's neck and pulled her down with her.

Quinn laughed into her mouth but continued to kiss her as if she wasn't acknowledging the fact that she was falling for Rachel Berry.

* * *

Rachel huffed as she mindlessly played with the cap of her water bottle. Quinn was driving her nuts.

"Why don't you want to go to the movie with me?" Rachel asked.

"Because Rachel, I don't want to see that movie."

"Well, why not?"

"Because it looks stupid."

"I want you to take me on a date."

Quinn froze, "A date?"

"Is that so much to ask?"

"Kind of," Quinn shrugged

"Is it not convenient for you, or something?" Rachel fired back.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're jealous of Santana, admit it."

The blonde scoffed, "I'm absolutely not jealous of Santana."

"You're threatened by her and you only show affection towards me when she's around."

Quinn's eyebrows shot up to her hair line before her eyes narrowed at the fuming brunette, "Can we _not_ talk about this right now?" she glanced at the slack jawed glee kids who were sitting at the lunch table with them.

"I think this is the perfect time," Rachel argued, "Why isn't this a good time for you?"

Quinn leaned forward with a low hiss, "Because we are in the middle of a crowded cafeteria, that's why."

"Fine. You stay here with your crowded cafeteria," Rachel replied as she stood up from the table.

"Where are you going?" Quinn reached across to try and grab her hand before she completely backed away from the table.

"I'm going to the auditorium to sing."

Quinn began to stand from the table as well to join her and figure out why the brunette was lashing out on her.

Though, she had a pretty good idea.

"_Don't_ follow me," Rachel glared at her before executing the classic Berry storm out.

Quinn sat back down and ran a hand through her hair before she banged her head against the top of the table a few times.

"Quinn, you okay?"

"I'm _fine_." The blonde snapped and no one bothered her the rest of the period.

* * *

Quinn was tired.

She barely slept the night before.

It was also literally exhausting trying to keep her emotions in check when it came to the brunette that had been ignoring her for over 24 hours.

Her texts were met with one-word responses, her phone call attempts went to voice mail after 2 rings, and Rachel sat on the opposite side of the choir room the day before.

Rachel seemed to accept whatever apology Quinn threw at her but she wasn't acting like she accepted it.

She was being cordial and Quinn hated it.

"So what are you doing this Saturday?" Santana asked, too casual to not have something up her sleeve.

Quinn shut her locker and whirled around to greet the girl, "Hanging out with Rachel."

Quinn was determined to win the brunette back over once they had time to actually discuss why Rachel was so upset with her the day before.

Santana's eyes sparkled mischievously, "Before or after my date with her?"

"Excuse me?"

Quinn really wasn't in the mood for Santana's stupid games.

"Oh, she didn't tell you? That's weird. I'm taking Berry out on Saturday."

Quinn saw red as she drew her bottom lip between her teeth to keep from screaming. She knew Santana enjoyed the reactions she could pull out of the blonde.

Santana liked to play chess with her. Backing her into corners, forcing her to play the obvious move, luring her to exactly where she wanted her. Quinn refused to let her win.

"What are you doing with her? We both know you're not really interested," Quinn replied, attempting to remain as calm as possible.

Santana shrugged before inspecting her nails, "I like a challenge and she's certainly been playing enough hard to get with me."

Quinn scoffed, "She won't touch you."

Santana tilted her head in contemplation for a few seconds, "She seemed pretty excited about it."

Quinn rolled her eyes, "She's excited for just about everything."

"Wonder why she didn't tell you then."

"I haven't seen her since lunch."

Rachel had assured her that she didn't need any help walking to class and they parted ways after spending a nearly silent lunch period in the café. Quinn was the only one that was talking.

Santana smirked evilly, "I asked her yesterday."

Check mate.

Quinn had absolutely nothing.

"Face it, Fabray, she's clearly over this scheme with you. That little fight you had in the cafeteria clearly should tell you something. She wants stability and a relationship, she's not going to waste her time with your denial."

She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes and she was just about at full capacity, "Did she tell you that?"

"More or less."

"It's not like you could give her stability," Her insults sounded pathetic without the usual bite to them.

She just sounded like someone who'd lost everything in their life.

"She seems to enjoy our daily talks, she's probably in the auditorium right now setting up one of her lame picnics for us."

"You're lying."

Santana pushed off the locker and smiled before nodding down the hallway, "See for yourself."

Quinn shook her head, "I trust her."

"Why? What has she ever done to make you trust her? She told Finn about Beth, she lies and schemes until she gets her way. _Run Joey Run_ fiasco 2010? You think she wasn't getting something out of you and Sam winning that duets competition? Oh, and what's she doing right now? Using you. Great girl you've got there, Q. I doubt I'll feel any guilt when I take her innocence."

"Just, stop talking."

"I mean, seriously? I tried to warn you, Q. She's not going to stop until she gets what she wants," Santana leaned forward, "And she wantz to get her mack on with me."

Quinn slammed the side of her fist against the locker, "I said, _shut_ up."

If Santana had been startled by Quinn's sudden outburst, she didn't show it, "Ask her what she's doing on Saturday."

* * *

She hated that Santana was right.

Rachel was unfolding a red blanket from a small picnic basket by the time Quinn was able to get to the auditorium. Math class be damned.

She ignored the betrayal settling into her chest and decided to remain calm.

"Hey, so I was thinking," Quinn started as she sat at the piano bench, "What are you doing Saturday night? I thought we could see that movie you were talking about."

"I thought you said it looked stupid," Rachel reminded her bitterly.

"Yeah but, I could probably manage to sit through it, and you really wanted to go."

Rachel sighed and shook her head, "It's quite alright Quinn, I wouldn't want to subject you to the torture of spending time with me."

"But I want to," Quinn pleaded.

"I'm actually busy Saturday night."

Quinn smiled as she ran a finger over the ivory keys, she knew that Santana was wrong about the brunette. She wasn't keeping things from her or sneaking around behind her back. She probably just forgot to mention it.

"Oh?"

Rachel turned to look at her and drew her bottom lip between her teeth, "My dads are taking me to Cleveland on Saturday."

Her smile vanished.

"Cleveland?" she continued after Rachel nodded hesitantly, "W-Well what about when you get home?"

"Actually, I think they got us a hotel room so…"

Quinn nodded before backing away from the piano, "Oh. Okay, yeah of course."

"But we can do something _next _Saturday, if you really want?"

She had no idea what the brunette had just said to her. She just wanted to get the hell out of that auditorium.

"Um, sure. I've got to get to class now."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yup, fine."

Quinn continued to back away, her mouth opening and closing. Rachel studied her some more.

"Is there something you want to say to me?"

Quinn shook her head _no_ before turning and disappearing to the side of the stage.

* * *

Quinn was being absolutely paranoid regarding the situation with Rachel and Santana.

So they were hanging out, and so what if Rachel had blatantly lied to her about it?

The blonde had nothing to worry about.

Yeah, right.

Rachel and Santana were having _picnics_? And going out on _dates_?

She glanced at the grandfather clock in her living room for maybe the twentieth time in the past 5 minutes and threw her head back with a huff.

She would absolutely not get into her car and drive over to Rachel's to wait for her to get home. She wouldn't do it.

She _could_ drive by, though. Yeah, she could run to the store and take the back way. Perfect.

Without another thought Quinn rushed out of her front door and to her car. She parked three houses away from the Berrys and began walking towards the house.

_So much for driving by_, she thought miserably.

No one answered the doorbell but it didn't stop her from ringing it 5 more times to make sure. She glanced out to the darkened street and decided to sit on the porch swing while she waited.

She was sure that Rachel had lied to her about going to Cleveland, but she just wanted to know why. Why would she keep the blonde out of the loop? They were partners-in-crime and Rachel was keeping stuff from her.

Rachel seemed to act indifferently towards her after their small fight the other day but what did the brunette expect from her? To come out and tell her that she liked her? Convince her that the plan was pointless because Quinn ended up falling for the brunette along the way? It's not like they could be an actual couple.

But why?

They were already pretending. In fact, the entire school had seen them kiss multiple times and Quinn hadn't even realized that the student body believed she was gay. Technically nothing would change between them.

Was it that easy?

Of course it was. She'd tell Rachel that she wanted to be with her, for real, and pray that it was enough. She'd deal with Santana's seducing once she made Rachel hers.

She let a slow smile spread on her face as she casually swayed back and forth on the porch swing.

She could kiss Rachel whenever she wanted and wouldn't feel guilty about it, she could give her money when she wanted a water from the vending machine, she could sit through dumb movies with her because she wanted to and not because she felt she had a point to prove.

She didn't want Rachel to enjoy the attention she got from Santana, she wanted to be enough for the brunette. Finn didn't deserve Rachel, especially after he kissed the blonde while knowing Rachel still loved him. Santana just wanted to break her in and make Quinn squirm.

Quinn would fight for her.

* * *

Quinn awoke to the feel of someone shaking her shoulder. Her eyesight blurry for a few seconds before the cloudiness faded and she was met with Rachel's concerned face.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked softly, "I told you I was going to Cleveland."

"You lied to me," Quinn replied sans an accusatory tone.

She was too tired for it.

She also didn't want to start the conversation out on a bad foot.

Rachel diverted her attention away from the blonde guiltily, "It doesn't explain why you're here."

Quinn picked herself up and rubbed her eyes, she had no idea how long she'd been passed out for.

"I needed to talk to you," Quinn answered through a yawn.

"You could have texted me. Do you know how dangerous it is to fall asleep on a front porch? Anyone could have come up and abducted you."

Quinn ignored her irrational fears, "Why did you lie to me?"

Rachel played with her bottom lip with her teeth for at least a minute before letting her eyes meet Quinn's, "If you knew I was lying, why didn't you stop me?"

"The way you've been looking at Santana recently, do you—" Quinn stopped speaking to gather her thoughts before peering up at the brunette, "Do you _like_ her?"

"Quinn—" Rachel sighed out.

"Because she's just doing it to make me jealous," Quinn added quickly, "You're just another notch to her."

"Maybe she actually likes me," Rachel reasoned.

Quinn shook her head; she _knew_ that her friend didn't.

"No, she's known about our motives since the beginning, she's only doing this to teach us a lesson."

"You're crazy," Rachel laughed and looked away before she felt Quinn tug her hand.

"Don't you get it? She knows how I feel about you so she's torturing me."

"What are you trying to say?

"I like you, Rachel. I have no idea how it happened," the blonde replied softly, unsure if the sentence had even been spoken.

She thought about repeating it, louder this time, more confident, but she wasn't sure she could. It was hard enough saying it the first time.

Rachel stared at Quinn for an eternity before a shy smile spread across her lips.

"I know you do," she answered simply.

Surely Quinn was still asleep, "You do?"

The brunette laughed softly and ran her fingers through blonde hair, "Of course, I do. I've been waiting for you to finally admit it."

"How did you know?"

"No offense Quinn, but those practice kisses were a little too real."

"Does that mean you- you like me too?"

Quinn felt like an idiot for sounding so hopeful and pathetic.

"Berry. Are we doing this or what?"

Quinn's eyes glanced around the brunette's body to find a barely dressed Santana in the front doorway. Hazel eyes snapped to wide brunette ones.

"Quinn, it's not like that," Rachel began quickly.

"Oh, it's not? Because it seems like you were about to give in to Santana."

"Jealous much?" Santana shot back from across the porch.

The blonde laughed humorlessly. Now she _really_ felt like an idiot.

That was the last time she put herself out there like that.

"I'm out of here," Quinn began as she sat up further.

"Please don't leave, I really can explain."

Quinn stood and the brunette stood with her, blocking her path to the steps.

The blonde glared at the Latina before moving back to find a pleading Rachel.

"Did you kiss her?" Quinn asked firmly, slowly.

She had to annunciate each word in order not to break down in front of both of them. She only did it when she was on the verge of tears.

"Yep, sure did."

"No."

She didn't know who to believe but if she was going with their recent track records, it was easier to believe Santana.

Santana hasn't actually lied to her once this entire time.

"I'm leaving."

"Quinn!" Rachel called out desperately.

"Have a nice night together," Quinn threw over her shoulder as she flew down the steps and to her car.

She made it to the end of the walkway before she felt a sob rake through her body.

It wasn't supposed to hurt that bad.

* * *

Rachel began to move towards the steps in order to follow after the hurt blonde but she felt fingers wrap around her upper arm.

"Leave her," Santana said lowly, "She'll come to her senses and admit her feelings."

Rachel whirled around, "She did admit them, just before you came outside!"

"What?" Santana's voice cracked, "What do you mean she admitted it?"

"She just told me that she liked me, and now she thinks that something is _actually_ going on between me and you."

Rachel wasn't sure who to be more mad at, Santana for following instructions or herself for giving them to her in the first place.

"Well how was I supposed to know?"

"You just _had_ to come outside at that moment?"

Santana backed up at the accusatory tone, there was no way that it was her fault, "This was your stupid idea!"

"Whatever, I need to figure out a way to talk to her."

"Just go over to her house!"

Rachel looked out to the darkened street and knew that it was useless to try and talk to the blonde right away, she'd never listen to her, "I need to sleep on all of this."

"Suit yourself, but don't forget about your half of the bargain," she called as Rachel kicked her front door closed.

Santana could get the clothes she shed at a later time.

Or Rachel could just burn them.

* * *

Rachel didn't understand how everything got so out of control. It was a simple and well thought out plan. No one was supposed to get hurt.

She didn't even know where to place the blame. It surely wasn't _her_ fault, was it? No, it was a ridiculous notion that she refused to entertain. It was nobody's fault. Well, _maybe_ it was her fault.

She also didn't know where to even begin as she sat down at her white painted desk with the intentions of debriefing and dissecting the game plan to see where it all went wrong.

The hurt look on Quinn's face was too much to bear.

Quinn was never supposed to get hurt.

* * *

Her scheme with the blonde had been working beautifully but then Quinn had to go and kiss her, and Rachel just couldn't let it be. She couldn't just enjoy the benefits of concocting a plan with the blonde, she had to go and concoct another plan.

It didn't take long for Rachel to realize that the only one that could help her get Quinn to admit her feelings was one Santana Lopez.

It didn't take long to convince her either.

"She kissed you…again?" Santana asked while she was straightening up her bedroom.

Rachel had arrived at her house nearly thirty minutes prior but it took at least twenty minutes of begging before Santana let her in. It had been two hours since Quinn mumbled excuses to her about why she had to leave so quickly after waking up. Rachel knew that if the blonde stayed, they'd end up kissing the entire morning.

Rachel sighed and unzipped her jacket to reveal her hickey covered neck.

"Holy shit," she breathed out as she tried to touch the bruises, "She mauled you."

Rachel zipped up her jacket all the way again and sat back down on Santana's computer chair, "Will you help me?"

"Depends…do you actually like her?"

Without a doubt.

"I can't seem to stop thinking about her. I know I get lovesick quite easily but the only reason I'm still going through with this _plan_ is so that I can continue to get closer to her."

It had only taken two minutes for Rachel to come clean about her original intentions. Why she wanted to actually kiss Santana, and why she'd got Quinn to help.

She gave herself a small pat on the back when Santana had told her she was impressed with the entire thing.

"Q needs someone like you."

"What do you mean?"

Santana threw some more clothes in her hamper before turning to Berry, "I may be a bitch but I still care about her."

"Could have fooled me," Rachel muttered under her breath.

Just how did Santana _care_ about Quinn? They'd been nothing but frienemies. They treated each other like that distant cousin that everyone hated but they_ had_ to invite to the family holiday parties.

"I have trouble expressing my feelings."

"You gave her mono and then stole her boyfriend."

The brunette couldn't help but stand up for Quinn. It was true. Santana was a bitch.

"I have _a lot_ of trouble expressing my feelings."

Rachel eyed her curiously, she considered it a small victory that Santana was admitting it, and to her no less, "You know she hates you, right?"

She shrugged, "I deserve it."

"So will you help me?"

Santana seemed to consider it for a moment before plopping down on her bed, "What would I have to do?"

"Seduce me."

"You're serious?"

"We both know the only reason she's clinging to me is because she's threatened by you."

The girl tilted her head back and forth indecisively before nodding, "That makes sense."

"So by relentlessly hitting on me, you'll drive her to the point of admitting her feelings, and we all win!" Rachel clapped for emphasis.

"What makes you think that she actually likes you? Are you sure that she's not just really into the stupid plan you two cooked up?"

Rachel unzipped her jacket again and pointed to her neck, "Does this look like it was done by someone that was only pretending?"

Santana winced again as she saw the girl's neck, "I mean, I've never seen her mark one of her boyfriends like that."

"Exactly."

Rachel ignored the stirring in her lower stomach. She couldn't think about how good it felt to know that Quinn wanted to claim her like that. Especially when she hadn't done it to _anyone_ else. It was unprofessional to fantasize about the object of her desires while she was amidst a business transaction.

"So let me get this straight, you want me to heavily pursue you until Quinn admits she actually likes you for real?"

Rachel nodded, "Precisely."

"Fine."

"Wonderful."

She really didn't think it would be hard to lure Santana into her plan. She'd been able to do it when she needed backup singers for her award worthy _Run Joey Run _music video. She also knew that Santana couldn't pass up the chance to mess with her oldest and dearest friend.

"But you have to help me get Brittany."

"Brittany?"

"Did I stutter? Yes, Brittany."

"You're with Sam and she's with Artie."

Santana threw her head back and actually chuckled, "Sam's a joke and Artie whines all the time. If you want my help, you'll find a way to get us back together."

"Have you tried asking her?"

"She won't even get her cuddle on anymore. She's all about feelings and stuff."

So clearly that's a no.

"And that's a bad thing because…?"

"Didn't I just tell you that I have trouble expressing them?"

Rachel huffed and shook her head, "Fine, I'll figure out a way."

"Wow, you'll stop at nothing," Santana smirked, "You must really like Q."

The brunette rolled her eyes, "I wouldn't be making a deal with the Devil herself if I didn't."

"Good one."

"Tomorrow morning come up to my locker while the two of us are talking," Rachel demanded.

Santana probably didn't take to kindly to Rachel's orders but maybe she realized the singer was her only lifeline if she wanted Brittany back.

"What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know," Rachel gestured wildly, "Improvise."

"Fine, now get out of my house."

* * *

The arrangement she made with Santana had been working way better than she had originally anticipated.

Quinn kissed her in school, she held her hand, she sat next to her in glee, she walked her to class, and she never let the brunette out of her sight. Rachel was on cloud 9, her body felt like it was on fire every time Quinn was near her. Which was practically every available second.

Every encounter with Santana was carefully calculated, timed just right so that Quinn would see just enough to make her jealous. It was exactly what Quinn and Rachel did in the beginning to make Santana jealous and quite frankly, Rachel was surprised Quinn didn't catch on. Like Rachel would ever blush from something Santana would say, or plan a picnic for them in the auditorium.

Santana seemed to enjoy pushing Quinn's buttons and the brunette often had to scold her for upsetting the blonde so many times.

**Don't be so mean to her, **Rachel would text her after Quinn would kiss her on the cheek before one of her classes.

**Bite me, **Santana would text back within seconds.

Naturally, they planned just about everything.

The fight in the cafeteria, and the distance Rachel kept from Quinn following it.

Rachel's lie about going to Cleveland.

**She's on her way, set up the lame ass picnic**

Santana had done her job and told Quinn about the date and when Rachel lied she was expecting Quinn to call her on it.

But she didn't.

She just stood wide-eyed like someone had stolen all her presents on Christmas morning.

"_Is there something you want to say to me?" _Rachel asked carefully, she could tell the blonde was seconds away from professing her undying love and putting an end to the entire charade.

It was tiring having to pretend to like Santana.

But Quinn said nothing.

So she was subjected to _actually_ spending the night with Santana to keep up appearances. Her battery nearly went dead from checking her phone for text messages from Quinn.

That was the night they were going to go all or nothing. Rachel was prepared to kiss Santana if it meant Quinn would finally face the truth.

In Rachel's mind, it made perfect sense.

But Quinn put it in perspective real quick for her.

* * *

"What do you mean it was all fake?"

Quinn could only avoid the brunette for two days. Rachel finally caught up with her after their glee rehearsal for Regionals in the auditorium. They were standing across from the piano almost exactly how they were when this entire thing started.

"I went to Santana and made her pursue me," Rachel explained.

It felt so good to finally say those words out loud to someone of importance.

Her practice runs in the mirror didn't go so well and she hoped that Quinn was more forgiving than Rachel's reflection.

She was an actress, obviously she had given herself every scenario that could possible play out once Quinn learned the truth.

"Why?"

"So you'd come to your senses," Rachel told her as if it was the simplest concept in the world.

"So you used someone else to get what you wanted?"

_She catches on rather quickly_, Rachel mused.

"Exactly."

"What is the matter with you?"

Rachel took a step back, unsure of how to proceed, "I'm not sure I—"

"You can't just scheme and make all these grand plans to mess with people's emotions," Quinn told her seriously.

Rachel wasn't sure why.

"It was the only way."

Looking back on it, there were probably thousands of other ways but none of them felt like making an appearance at the time _Operation Quest for Quinn _was birthed.

"So you had Santana purposely make me jealous?"

Rachel didn't love the incredulity dripping from Quinn's tone.

How did she not see it coming?

"It worked, didn't it?"

"That's not the point," Quinn dodged.

"Of course it is."

"You don't even see your fault here, _you_ tricked me."

"It was fine when we were doing it to Santana," Rachel countered easily.

The blonde huffed, "That was different."

"How?"

"It just was."

"So, what? You're back to denying everything again?"

She was expecting the run-around with Quinn, it was text book.

She wouldn't cross over so easily.

"I belong with Sam and you belong with Finn."

"You can't even say it without flinching," the brunette pointed out.

Quinn changed lanes to avoid Rachel calling her out again, "How long has Santana been doing this on purpose?"

"I presume the whole time," she started, finding Quinn silently agreeing with her, "But I went to her after you slept over."

"Jesus, Rachel!"

"I get it okay? I mess up everything I touch, I get too excited and it falls to pieces. Jesse used me, Puckerman was nothing but trouble, and Finn walked all over me. You made me feel special, like I was finally good enough."

Quinn's features softened significantly, "You are good enough."

The brunette shook her head, "I don't make the best choices but at least I know what I want."

"And what is it you want?"

"You. Was that not obvious?"

"Look Rachel—"

"Save it, Quinn. Just know that I'm not afraid to go after the things I want. I told you my inability to accept defeat would be my own demise. I'll just take you down with me if I have to."

The blonde straightened her posture at the challenge, "Is this you telling me that you're not giving up?"

"You'll come to your senses eventually."

"And if I don't?"

Rachel shrugged but kept her chin up, regardless of how bad her lower lip was quivering, "You're not who I thought you were."

* * *

Rachel had to admit that she was a little peeved when Quinn didn't chase after her. That was the performance of a lifetime. Her ability to cry on cue had never really come in handy before but she delivered an Emmy worthy performance. Turning away to hide her tears before storming out of the auditorium? It was heartbreaking.

Quinn didn't follow her out but she pushed that thought aside as she happily skipped down the hallway and out to her car.

Some people may believe she was bi-polar. Rachel just tended to believe she was easily swayed.

She couldn't help but be a tad bit excited about all the new inspiration she had for a _new_ original song that she could belt out at Regionals the upcoming weekend.

There were few things she knew.

Quinn was a fool.

She was also a fool for Rachel.

She wouldn't apologize for being the way she was, Quinn knew of her crazy when she signed up for the first plan nearly a month ago. Quinn probably secretly loved it that Rachel stopped at nothing until she got what she wanted. They really weren't that different, it was just easier for Rachel to express it.

Her eyes scanned over the notebook page of the possible ways to obtain Santana that she listed at the beginning of everything. The last one spoke volumes.

_Serenade_.

Quinn wouldn't know what hit her.

* * *

The blonde should have known Rachel was up to something when she walked into glee the day before Regionals and announced she had a new song to sing.

"But Regionals is tomorrow," Schuester reminded her, "We don't have time to learn a whole new song and choreography."

Lies.

They'd done it at their first sectionals in only twenty minutes but that was neither here nor there.

"It won't be necessary, it's a solo performance," she beamed, "At best, you'll just need to sway behind me."

"OH hell no," Mercedes raged from her chair, "Who gave you the right?"

"You can't just throw a curveball at us like this, Rach," Finn began to argue.

"Everyone shut up," Santana barked as she stood up and joined Rachel center stage. Well, center choir room.

Rachel's eyes glanced to see Quinn gritting her teeth and she hid her smile.

She really didn't love watching Quinn suffer but if she was still being a moron about her feelings for brunette then she could use a wakeup call or two.

"Berry and I are doing the song and you can all suck it."

"Are you serious?" Quinn fumed from her seat, hazel eyes cutting into Rachel's.

"You got a problem with that, Princess?" Santana crossed her arms, "You had your shot."

Rachel put a calming hand on Santana's arm before facing the rest of the group. Quinn scoffed and looked away.

"We're asking you to trust us," Rachel started softly but was cut off.

"And why should we trust _either _of you?" Quinn found herself too upset to keep quiet.

"Because we both have a reason to sing."

* * *

The Warblers certainly were on their game, although their duet was questionable, but New Directions couldn't dwell on that. They were called backstage and they'd be going on in a few short minutes.

Santana threw around orders to the members of the club as they struggled with how the performance was supposed to go.

"What don't you understand? Just stand there and look pretty."

Rachel could tell that Santana was seconds away from exploding, Finn was mostly the one giving her trouble.

"What are you doing?"

Rachel snapped her attention away from the group as she heard Quinn's voice behind her.

"Getting ready to perform," Rachel answered through a heavy breath.

"No, what are you _doing_? A new song? With Santana? If you're trying to make me jealous—"

"I'm not."

Quinn stopped and looked at her curiously, "So what are you doing?"

"I messed up and I'm sorry for hurting you," Rachel couldn't have meant it more if she tried.

She took a step closer to Quinn and found it to be a good sign when the blonde didn't pull away.

Rachel boldly leaned closer and placed a kiss on the blonde's lips, "_So_ sorry for hurting you," she breathed into her slightly opened mouth.

She pulled back before she completely lost control of her emotions. She needed to save some of it for her performance.

But she didn't think she'd have any trouble expressing everything through the song.

The announcer passed by them on his way to the curtain and told them they had 30 seconds until show time.

Rachel smiled softly before swiping the pad of her thumb across Quinn's wet lip, "Listen carefully, because I mean every word."

* * *

Quinn took her spot next to Brittany and closed her eyes before the curtain rose to reveal the eager crowd. She was seconds away from running off stage and taking the first bus back to Lima. She couldn't handle Rachel's honesty. And now she had to perform in front of all these people? Even though they'd been there before, it was still scary as hell.

The spotlight hit Rachel and the piano began as she surveyed the crowd.

"_What have I done? I wish I could run away from this ship going under."_

Quinn did as she was told and listened carefully to the words that Rachel was singing.

"_What can you do when your good isn't good enough? And all that you touch tumbles down?"_

Her breath caught in her throat as she closed her eyes to soothe the stinging of tears.

"'_Cause my best intentions keep making a mess of things, I just want to fix it somehow."_

Rachel was baring her soul.

"_How many times will it take for me to get it right?"_

She was baring her soul to Quinn.

The entire audience was captivated and silent as they watched Rachel belt her heart out with Santana harmonizing in the background.

"_I'll send out a wish, yeah, I'll send up a prayer, and finally someone will see how much I care."_

The crowd exploded with applause as Rachel triumphantly hit her high note with ease and the blonde's eyes slid shut once again.

She could get through it. They still had another song to sing.

She couldn't be breaking down on the stage halfway through their performance.

But did she ever want to.

* * *

They took Regionals with barely an effort.

The two other schools didn't even compare.

There was something different about their victory, though. Sure, it felt amazing, but Quinn knew it was for another reason entirely.

"Hey," the blonde leaned against the side of the seat in front of Rachel on the school bus.

"Hello Quinn."

"Mind if I join you?"

Rachel shook her head and moved over to make room for the blonde.

"Why aren't you up at the front of the bus singing with everyone else?"

"I don't feel much like singing," Rachel glanced out her window to avoid Quinn's frown.

Rachel was in the very last three person seat on the bus. The closest person was 10 rows ahead of her.

Quinn took a deep breath, "You scare me."

Rachel's face dropped as she turned her head to find out why.

Quinn's light laughter floated between them, "In a good way."

Rachel stayed silent and looked down at her knees.

"You just singlehandedly won us Regionals," the blonde reminded her with a nudge, "You should be smiling."

Quinn was starting to panic, Rachel was rarely silent.

"I liked your song," the blonde tried again.

The brunette finally reacted by rolling her eyes, "Yeah 'cause it won us Regionals."

"That's not true. Win or lose, I still would have loved it."

The blonde reached down to grab Rachel's hand and ran a thumb over her knuckles.

"Why do I scare you?"

Quinn blushed and looked down at their hands, "You make me feel things."

"I don't mean to," Rachel found herself replying.

Why she was attempting to make excuses, Quinn wasn't sure. It wasn't a bad thing.

"I'm not mad at you," Quinn started, "You just helped me to admit what I was too afraid to think about."

"This conversation seems eerily familiar."

Quinn laughed softly and clasped their hands together, "You make me think too much, Berry."

Rachel's smile was wide and for the first time since everything had happened, Quinn felt like everything was going to be fine.

"One day you'll thank me," the brunette mimicked the words she spoke to Quinn in the bathroom the first time they _really_ talked.

Quinn leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the brunette's temple before resting her head on Rachel's shoulder.

"Thank you."

* * *

Quinn had been searching for Santana all day.

Go figure. The one time Quinn _actually_ wanted to see her, she was nowhere to be found.

She finally caught up with her before lunch.

"You were right," Quinn said softly as she gently placed her salad bowl on the table and took a seat across from the girl, "About my denial."

Santana allowed a victorious smirk to settle on her features, "So you and Berry made nice?"

"Yeah," Quinn replied as she poured some dressing on her salad, "She was really understanding about everything."

Santana popped a _Wheat Thin_ into her mouth and nodded before her confused eyes fell back to Quinn, "Wait, understanding? About what?"

"About staying friends."

"Are you shitting me? After everything that's happened, you only want to be her friend?"

"We had a long talk on the bus ride home from Regionals and I realized so much, I'm not ready for all of Rachel's crazy and she's not really ready for all of my baggage," Quinn told her honestly.

"What are you talking about? You two are a match made in psycho heaven."

"Maybe, but I don't know," Quinn shrugged, "You guys definitely helped me come out of my shell so I could accept who I truly am. I'm thankful and all, but…"

"But?"

"I guess Rachel was just a temporary fascination," Quinn replied, unable to explain it, "I got a new friend out of it at least…in fact, she's helping me with something."

"What?"

"I guess I've always been attracted to girls, and there was one in particular but I never knew what it was."

"Who?"

* * *

Rachel was still reeling from their win at Regionals. After settling everything with Quinn she was finally able to enjoy it.

It was magnificent!

She felt like the queen of the school and she briefly wondered if that's what Quinn Fabray felt like _every_ day.

Speak of the blonde.

Rachel smiled to herself as she watched Quinn and Brittany idly chat by the latter's locker. The brunette was proud of Quinn for finally accepting who she was and if she had a part in that, she was surely satisfied.

Rachel couldn't wait to hear about how her encounter with Brittany went. Quinn would surely gush about how smooth she'd been while roping the girl to accompany her for dinner later that night. Quinn was suave and confident when she wanted to be, there wasn't a doubt in Rachel's mind that Quinn wouldn't be able to wrap the girl around her finger.

When Fabray wasn't breaking people's hearts, she was charming them.

Rachel smiled to herself as she shut her locker in order to take off for the celebratory jam-session in the choir room.

"What the hell is Fabray doing over there with Brittany?"

Rachel threw her hand to her chest, Santana startled her.

The brunette glanced back over her shoulder to find the two blondes still speaking and turned to study Santana's cold glare in their direction.

"Talking, I presume."

"That wasn't the deal, Berry. I helped you get Quinn and you were supposed to help me get Brittany."

"Well it appears that I _don't_ have Quinn so technically I'm not longer contractually obligated to you."

Santana seized the girls arm as she tried to move past her, "That's not how this works."

"What do you want me to do? Clearly Quinn knows what she wants."

"Quinn had feelings for _you_. What the hell happened?"

Rachel pulled her arm from Santana's grasp, "She had _feelings_, obviously misplaced ones. We're better off as friends, anyway."

"What happened to all that possessiveness over you the past month?"

"You said it yourself, she's threatened by you. I'm sure she would have done the same with Jacob Ben Israel if you were pursuing him."

Santana shivered, "Gross."

"Are we done here?"

"What am I supposed to do?" Santana's eyes scanned Rachel's face, "Are you telling me that Quinn actually liked Brittany all along?"

Rachel's heart sank for the girl, "I'm sorry."

"She's supposed to be with me," her voice cracked in vulnerability.

Rachel placed a soothing hand on the girl's shoulder, "Have you tried telling her that?"

"It's too late now."

Rachel had never seen the girl look so dejected and sad. She knew from being in the glee club with the girl for over a year that she was just as big of a crier as Rachel was, but she'd rarely experienced it first hand.

"Look, Santana, I know that Quinn's going to ask her to dinner tonight, but maybe you still have a chance. You know Brittany's just waiting for you to admit your feelings, you're still her number one."

"What do I say? I love you, Brittany? I want to be with you?"

"That's a start," Rachel smiled softly, "Just talk to her."

"What about Quinn?"

Rachel smirked, "When has that stopped you before?"

The brunette watched with slight amusement as Santana found her confidence and let a small smile grace her lips.

"Never."

Rachel turned around and leaned her shoulder against her locker to see how everything played out.

Quinn put up a fight, naturally. And Rachel smiled to herself, silently hoping that the girl would never change.

The blonde huffed and walked away from Santana and Brittany. She made her way down the hallway and stopped in front of Rachel with a pout on her lips.

Rachel smiled, "I wouldn't be too torn up about it. Those two belong together."

"But—"

Rachel silenced her with a finger and pointed down the hallway to show Quinn the two hugging lovingly.

"There are plenty of other girls out there for you," Rachel reminded her while pushing off the locker.

"Only one of them matters," Quinn said before dropping her hand to the small of Rachel's back in order to guide her down the hallway.

Rachel ducked her head bashfully and continued to walk in stride with her girlfriend, "I know how much you had your heart set on torturing Santana."

"It was like all I thought about," the blonde continued to whine.

Rachel cleared her throat.

"Besides you of course," Quinn smiled with one of her dazzling bright smiles before dipping down to catch Rachel's lips in a lingering but off balanced kiss.

"We make a good team, don't you think?" Rachel smiled up at the blonde and found her eyes fluttering closed as she placed another kiss to her forehead.

"What with my ruthless demeanor and your determination to succeed?" Quinn laughed along, repeating the words Rachel used when they first agreed to work together.

"I succeeded, didn't I? I got you, _and_ I got those two together finally."

"And you won us Regionals," Quinn reminded her for about the fortieth time since they won.

Rachel didn't mind.

"What do you say we meddle in other people's relationships?"

"No, Rachel. Let them work out their problems on their own, we don't need to interfere."

"But I just know that Miss Pillsbury loves Mr. Shue. And Blaine and Kurt's sexual tension is _exhausting_, not to mention Mercedes' lack of boyfriend. Artie will need help looking for a new girlfriend, perhaps him and Mercedes would be compatible. Their voices go well together, don't you agree?"

Quinn pulled the girl tighter against her body as they continued to walk down the empty hallway, "Rach?"

"Yes, Quinn?"

"Let's make a deal."

"Oh!" Rachel's bounced excitedly, "I love making deals."

"Let's just enjoy each other and not worry about everyone else. No more scheming, okay?"

Rachel frowned and shook her head, "Oh, I can't possibly make that deal. Well, I certainly intend to _enjoy _you but my life has almost been defined by my brilliant plans."

"Fine," Quinn sighed, "No more scheming for at least three months?"

"Two."

Quinn eagerly jumped on it, "Deal."

Rachel smiled before reaching up to seal it with a kiss, "Deal."


End file.
